Chapter 2

Chapter 2 of Dead Frontier 1.

A scream coming from down the hall broke my concentration. I considered going to see what it was but the thought quickly passed. Probably just another hysterical secretary overreacting to a spider.

Just as I started getting back to work something else grabbed my attention. I peered out of the window into the street below and to my astonishment saw a scene of utter chaos. People fighting, even killing each other for seemingly no reason. By this time some of my co-workers had gotten up from their desks and joined me in staring out of the window.

I turned on the radio which was installed in my cellphone. The radio began blurting out all kinds of information. It said that a new breed of virus had been discovered, one that would change its victim into a homicidal maniac. This virus was highly contagious and spreading rapidly. Their advice was to stay where I was and that if I were to encounter an infected person I should try to destroy their brain.

At this point I felt myself entering a state of mild shock. It was obvious that whatever was going was serious, and that a significant percentage of the population were going to be killed or wounded over the course of the next few days.

My thoughts quickly turned to my wife, was she okay? What if these maniacs were at our home?

I dialled the number of times but immediately got an error tone. I tried several more times before giving up. I was annoyed with myself wasting time; I should have known the phones would be overwhelmed. I then decided that I would go home and make sure that my wife was okay.

I began to make my way through a series of corridors that led the elevator. On my way I noticed a struggle out of the corner of my eye. I turned to see a disfigured man frantically clawing at and biting a young woman's leg. Blood was already pouring from her multiple wounds. The woman cried out for me to help her.

I began to look for somebody to help but all my fellow co-workers seemed to be far more interested in saving their own skins. By the time I returned to the office both the crazed man and the wounded woman had gone. I decided to continue to the elevator.

I arrived at the elevator, but to my dismay it seemed many other people had the same idea. I heard a ping and the elevator doors slid open. In a split second the large crowd of office staff pushed and shoved their way into the tiny metal box.

I quickly made my way down the stairs to the ground floor. Sure I was a little out of breath, but at least I saved time and avoided a potentially lethal situation.

I eventually reached the ground floor and entered the lobby. The scene in front of me was one of the extreme violence. The security team was desperately battling with a swarm of infected as they appeared to be losing. I watched helplessly as a guard on the opposite side of the room was torn limb from limb. I noticed his gun lying on the floor just a few meters away from his dismembered corpse.

I managed to slip away without any infected noticing and proceeded quickly towards the rear exit.

I made my way through several corridors towards the back of the building. As I approached the entrance I spotted a hefty padlock across the bolt making it practically impossible to open without a key. I cursed my bad luck and tried to figure out my next move.

The janitor would have had the key but reaching his office would of required going back towards the lobby.

I realized that breaking the door down would be impossible and that heading back would be too dangerous so I set about searching for another exit.

I remembered that there was a small window in the male bathroom just a few doors down the corridor. I arrived at the bathroom door and pushed it open. Suddenly I heard a bestial roar coming from further down the corridor. A dozen infected had spotted me and were now heading in my direction.

I quickly entered the bathroom and spotted the window I was thinking of. However, to my dismay it was much smaller than I had remembered. I thought that I would probably fit but I knew going to be a very tricky maneuver.

Not wanting to waste time I set about trying to squeeze through the window. A few awkward movements and a lot of pain later I managed to force my way into the street, escaping the infected with only seconds to spare.