Chapter 5

1000 

The crew was up by this time, though quite jet-lagged.

Once everyone had eaten, Bianca called them all together and told them the actual reason they were there.

"Ok. Up to this point, I've been vague with you. From here on out, It's crystal clear. We're dealing with something so big it could change the world as we know it. To help me explain why you are all really here, I've asked Doctor Dominic Kral, of Allied Bio-Chem Research, to help me. Doctor?"

Bianca stepped aside, and let Kral take over. He told them everything he told Bianca. She watched as their faces momentarily lit up, followed by laughter.

"Thanks, doctor. Are there any questions?"

"So...Zombies."

"Yes. But as you are all very well studied on the matter, you all know what to do, right?"

"Yes, but..."

"I thought you all could handle it.."

"I can handle it, Ma'am, I'm just very skeptical. I'd like some proof before I'm convinced."

"Very well. Doctor, the video."

He stepped forward again.

"Alright. This was taken a month ago, in Diepsloot, South Africa. There was a low-level outbreak in the refugee camp. We put the number of infected at 25. All started from one isolated person. The lab confirms that the virus was transmitted by a bite. This is Patient Zero. We shot him in the chest 6 times, and he didn't go down. We had to put a bullet through his head. This is video that Bianca and her assistant, Alex, took before we dealt with the situation."

He showed them the clip of the zombies milling around in the room.

"So, are you sure you didn't just steal footage from a film? That really looks like s**t I've seen before."

"Where did you see it?"

"The original Dawn of the Dead."

"Romero. Brilliant man, but no, this is not borrowed footage."

"You must be a movie producer than. You staged it."

"Sir, again, no."

"I'm calling Bullshit."

"Bianca, you want to take this one?"

"Gee, thanks, Doctor."

Stepped up to the front again.

"Ok, so you don't believe me then, right?"

"Not even a little bit."

"Ok, does everyone else feel the same?"

She got a resounding "Yes".

"Ok, then."

She started another video.

"This is in the lab in Durban. They took a sample of the blood and saliva from Patient Zero. They blended it with more blood to make it flow better. Then, they injected it into this guy here."

"Who is that?"

"Violent criminal, bound for execution. See, they're injecting him now."

They watched as the man was injected. He thrashed around a bit while they injected him. HE continued to yell at them afterwards, spouting what Bianca could only assume were curses. The footage was sped up to show the following 18 hours. He went from pacing and throwing things to sickly looking, to violent spasms, to paralysis.

"This is what happens from infection to death. Care to see what happens next?"

"What, he dies? Play it. Surprise us."

"As you wish."

Bianca hit play, and they all watched.

As the timer hit the 20 hour mark, the subject is obviously dead. Soon after, though, you see a finger twitch, soon, a hand, soon, a whole arm. Within 5 minutes, the corpse was writhing on the floor. Soon, it, very clumsily, rose to its feet, and began to stumble around the room. It walked close to the camera, and, for the first time, you could see its eyes, Yellowed and Bloodshot, staring into nowhere. You could hear it, gurgling, as if it was taking extremely shallow breaths with lungs full of fluid. Suddenly, it looked back to the door, which had opened. It let out a bit of a moan, this time. Not like you'd imagine a moan, but more a grunt or a slightly louder gurgle.

A man walked in, wearing a military uniform. He had a gun in his hand, aimed at the Zombie.

The zombie started shuffling stiffly toward the man. The moaning became louder, now sounding more like a Growl / Grunt. As it got closer to the man, it began to shuffle a bit more vigorously. The man began to yell at the zombie, commanding that it stop. IT didn't, so he shot it in the foot. IT kept coming, so he shot it in the leg. Still, it kept coming. He shot it in the chest 3 or 4 times, emptying his magazine. It still kept coming. The man swore, as he leapt for the door. HE soon found out it locked when he went through. He began pounding on the door, trying to get help.

2 people ran to the door, trying to unlock it. But they were too slow. By this time, the zombie was right on him. IT grabbed his hand, and he swatted it away. IT grabbed again, and again, he swatted. Then, the zombie came in closer, grabbed the man's arm, pulled itself in, and bit the man on the arm. The man kicked and shoved the zombie away, pulled the gun, and pulled the trigger, forgetting it was empty. He threw the gun at the zombie, not fazing it. 

The man ran to the other side of the room, and grabbed the chair. He picked it up and swung at the zombie, knocking it down, and breaking it's arm. As it tried to get up, it's broken arm bending entirely the wrong way, and not seeming to cause the zombie pain, the man repeatedly hit the zombie until it quit moving. the final blow put a leg of the chair through its temple.

As Bianca paused the video, she looked across the faces of the crew. The sheer look of horror told her they believed her now.

"So. Now. We were able to Identify what caused this...sort of. We analyzed the tissue from the initial patient. They found a strain of virus. It appears to be one of three viruses, possibly all three combined. Cruetzfeldt-Jakob Disease, the human form of Mad-Cow, Rabies and E-Bola virus. We don't have a name for it yet, but we're certain that the combination of these three caused this, though there has to be a fourth element; something that would cause the reanimation. There is a general consensus that it may be mixed with Ophiocordyceps Unilateralis. More commonly known as the parasitic fungus that attacks ants, Killing them, and then taking control of their bodies. We're in process of procuring a sample of the "zombie ants" to see if what's in the blood matches up with what's on the ants."

"So…you're saying, and you're dead f*****g serious, that we're dealing with a Zombie Virus. A Real-Life f*****g Zombie virus..."

"Yeah."

"F**k...Yes!! Do you know how long I've been waiting for this?"

"Sir, with all due respect, do you have any idea how deadly this is? What kind of impact this will have?"

"Yes. I do, Ma'am."

"So you know that we have to keep it from happening for as long as we can. We need more time to prepare."

"I agree. To a point. Do you realize that the human race is due for a large-scale pandemic? I think it could do the world good."

"You're a sick man."

"Thank you, Ma'am."

"That wasn't a compliment....I promise you, you'll get your wish eventually, but it's my job, and now, all of yours, to keep that from happening for as long as possible."

"I can do that."

"Ok. So, now that we're on the same page...I've just gotten a message with a possible lead."