Pologue

The inital outbreak of the Zombies

 Lisa darted between the trees. She clutched a small bag to her breast. The bag contained their research. And at this point, it was more valuable than her life. In fact it would explain why the world had gone to hell in a hand-basket. But first she had to make sure she made it back to civilization alive and uninfected. That was her top priority.
        Behind her the moans rose. They drowned out any of the normal night sounds. Lisa swore they could hear her and for all she knew they could. If they were capable of hearing. She didn't even know if they were capable of rational thought. All she knew was that they had been dead. And now they were walking. All of her co-workers were walking.
        They had been working on the vaccine for years. It had been the foundation of her entire career. And now, all hope was lost. US Pharmaceuticals had been leading the way in AIDS research for almost twenty years. Lisa has joined at a pivotal moment. She had been one of the researchers who had developed the vaccine.
        They had manipulated the virus DNA just enough that it had created an antidote. They had tested it on lab rats for years, and the rats showed no signs of the AIDS virus. That had been enough to get the drug patented and to begin human trials. It had almost seemed that it would work too. The only problem was that the people who had volunteered died. They were down to about twelve deaths. A discouraging number. So it was back to the drawing board.
        They had spent months toiling over where to go from there. That was until Tony had showed up. He was a fairly rich man, but his AIDS had reached a terminal level. And as all rich people do, he had tried to buy more time. He had invested millions of dollars into the AIDS project, and had even volunteered to be one of the first to receive the new drug, along with half a dozen other people.
        So the drug had been altered, but it had somehow mutated. Of course the AIDS virus could, and had mutated. But no one imagined that the vaccine would do the same. It was a nightmare. All the trials, and hopes of extinguishing another deadly virus were shattered.
        Lisa had been administering the vaccine when the s**t hit the fan. Tony had finally passed away. The doctors had done everything to help him, but he was terminal long before he had come to them. Even with the new vaccine injections he had died. The staff had been up for hours, and were running off of caffeine and Ho Ho's. Everything seemed bleak. The feelings of frustration and despair were overwhelming. At that moment, it seemed that the AIDS vaccine would have to be scrapped.
        Tony's body had been sent to the morgue, with strict instructions that his organs were to be harvested for further research. Lisa held the tiniest bit of hope that they had just administered the drugs too late. Yet, as optimistic as she tired to be, she couldn't stop the nagging in the back of mind. What if the drug had been the result of his death? Then where would they go?
        Lisa had taken blood samples from Tony just before he had been carted off to the morgue. She now sat behind a microscope studying the sample. The blood showed all the symptoms of terminal AIDS, but there was something else. Something that she had never seen before. She wondered if it was a side affect of the vaccine. The blood cells seemed to move under the thin plastic covering. Which should have been impossible since she was working with blood from a dead body. The blood should have been pretty stationary, but it wasn't. It moved chaotically, she couldn't explain it.
        It had been nearly an hour since Tony had passed away. And Lisa was getting ready to call over a colleague to have a look at the blood when the phone rang. Dr. Yamada had answered it. His youthful Asian face turned very serious and he quietly looked at Lisa. She could just make out the frantic voice of Dr. Styles coming from the receiver, but she couldn't tell what he was saying. Yamada hung the phone up and locked eyes with Lisa.
        “Tony's alive.” He said in an almost ominous tone.
        It was at that moment that Lisa knew something was wrong. “No,” she said. “He's dead!”
        They stood there a moment longer in utter disbelief before running for the morgue. As the neared the morgue, they could hear the frantic screams of Dr. Styles. Dr. Yamada had reached the heavy morgue doors first. Without a thought, he threw them open but stopped dead in his tracks.
        In the cold morgue, laying in a pool of blood was Dr. Kim. Her throat had been ripped out, and sticky pieces of muscle gleamed in the soft blue glow. Her once lively blue eyes were now an ash color and blank. She stared up at nothing. Lisa stopped just behind Dr. Yamada. She started in horror at the mess of her once good friend. Neither said anything, they just stood there.
        The clatter of a medal bedpan hitting the floor brought them back to their senses. Dr. Yamada walked carefully around the gurney in the middle of the room. He grabbed the scalpel that had lay forgotten on a small tray. As he rounded the gurney he stopped. His eyes grew wide as we watched Tony take a large chunk out of Dr. Styles face.
        Dr. Styles lips had long been ripped off, and a pool of stick blood had formed around the body. He froze, daring to not take a single step. Tony hadn't yet noticed him, and in that respect, he figured himself lucky. He started to inch away, slowly. But a scream from behind him startled not only him, but Tony as well. And Tony saw him. He crouched by his kill, his once finely kept hair now matted with blood and guts. Blood dripped from his mouth, and he gnashed his teeth, moving his body almost like a lizard.
        Dr. Yamada turned, already having worked an escape rout through his mind. But as he turned, Dr. Kim greeted him. Her once fine featured were now contorted. She snarled at him and a hissing sound escaped her throat. She lunged, the full force of her body knocking Dr. Yamada to the cold blue tiles. He threw his hands up in defense and tried to push her off of him. But Tony had advanced and was kneeling at Yamada's legs. Dr. Yamada kicked frantically, calling for help. He slashed the scalpel with his free hand at Dr. Kim. A red line appeared on her white cheek, and the blood slowly trickled down. Tony had managed to subdue on of Dr. Yamada's legs and bit deep. His white teeth sank into the doctors flesh and blood bubbled out.
        Lisa had been frantically searching for something to use as a weapon when she saw Dr. Kim start moving. All she had found was a fire extinguisher. She didn't care, as long as it would work, that was all she wanted. She burst into the morgue just in time to see Tony take a bit out of the doctors leg. She ran up and swung the fire extinguisher heavily across the back of his head. Tony's skull collapsed like a rotten pumpkin, and he fell to the ground.
        She then advanced on Dr. Kim. Kim was on top of Dr. Yamada and she was clawing at this face. Thick lines of red were forming where her nails had bitten into his skin. Without thinking, Lisa swung the extinguisher and knocked Dr. Kim off of Dr. Yamada. Dr. Yamada moaned, and reached a hand up to Lisa.
        “Are you alright?” She asked reaching for him.
        “He bit me!” Dr. Yamada screeched. “
        “We've got to get out of here!” Lisa said pulling him up.
        Dr. Yamada leaned heavily against her, and they walked as quickly as they could out of the morgue. She lead him to an elevator. She pressed the call button and they waited. The doors to the morgue were left open, and at this point, Lisa wasn't brave enough to go back and close them.
        The elevator dinged and she barely waited for the doors to open before boarding with Dr. Yamada. He grasped the medal rail and made his way to the buttons. Lisa watched in horror as Dr. Kim shakily walked out of the morgue. She looked both ways, almost like a bird would, and then she was Lisa. Dr. Kim ran. She ran fast toward the elevator. Dr. Yamada pushed the call button over and over praying for the door to close. Lisa thought maybe she should get off and lure Dr. Kim away from Dr. Yamada, when the doors closed.
        They heard a loud bang as Dr. Kim ran into the door. The quiet whir of the elevator greeted them and the cart climbed to the fourth floor. Lisa and Dr. Yamada got off. They hit a nurse's station first.
        “Kelly!” Lisa called.
        Kelly, a young college girl wearing scrubs darted out from behind the large desk.
        “Oh'm god! What happened?” She asked, a southern twang bouncing off her tongue.
        “Take care of Dr. Yamada. I've got to call security.” She handed the doctor over to Kelly and snatched the first available phone. She punched in the code for a lock down and the security guards picked up.
        “Yes?” came a gruff voice.
        “This is Dr. Lisa Roberts. We have an emergency, you have to seal off the morgue. No one is to go down there. I repeat no one!”
        “What's going on down there? I just sent in a couple of rookies. We were watching on the monitors. Looked like you were attacked.” the man said.
        “You've got to call them back!” Lisa cried.
        “Alright.” There was along pause before Lisa heard anything.
        “Jesus Christ!” the voice was distant, as if the guard had dropped the phone.
        “Hello? Hello? HELLO?” She stared at the phone.
        “Lisa, what's going on?” Dr. Yamada asked.
        He looked horrible. She shook her head. “I'll go get you some water.”
        She turned on her heals and rounded the nurses station. She passed the drinking fountain and made her way to the back stair well. She threw the door open and ran down the stairs. She needed to get to the second floor. She had to get the research. It was vital.
        She opened the door and quietly made her way down the hall. Patients were quietly tucked in for the night, and their doors securely closed. The few that were open, she stopped by and closed. She rounded another corner and found the lab. She swiped her medical card and the door opened. She stopped by her locker and grabbed her messenger bag. She emptied the contents on the floor and made her way to the lab.
        She collected various papers and stuffed them haphazardly into her bag. Then she made her way over to the fridge. She pulled out the small beakers that contained the vaccine and gently wrapped them in a towel. She then placed them in her bag. No matter what happened, she had to keep the vaccine and their work safe. She then exited the lab and went to the stairwell.
        She opened the door and surveyed the area before closing the door behind her. The door closed with a loud squeal that echoed off of the cement walls. She started to climb the stairs to the fourth floor when she heard it. Foot steps, and they were moving quickly. They were accompanied by that hissing sound. She took the stairs two at a time. They were right behind her. How had they gotten out of the morgue? How were they climbing the stairs?
        She turned the corner and saw the door to the fourth floor. Joy flooded through her and she pulled it open. She dared not look behind her as she slammed it shut. She made her way back to the nurses station and found Kelly and Dr. Yamada right where she had left them.
        “Lisa! What's going on?” Kelly asked frantically.
        “I don't know. But we have to get out and we have to do it now.” Lisa checked the fire-escape map. There were two fire exits on their floor. One just down the hall from where they were, and another on the other side of the hospital.
        “Kelly, we need to get out of here.”
        “But we can't leave the patients.” Kelly protested.
        “If you don't get out now Kelly, you won't be doing anyone any good. There are things in the stairwells. Things that will rip you apart. Now we have to get out and get help.” Lisa said grabbing Dr. Yamada and pulling him to his feet.
        She started for the nearest exit, Kelly followed. Kelly seemed torn between leaving and staying with her patients. Lisa felt bad for her. But not bad enough to let the poor kid get mauled by Dr. Kim.
        “If it'll make you feel better, close as many doors as you can. I don't think they can open doors.” At least Lisa prayed that they couldn't. They reached the window. Dr. Yamada leaned against the wall, his skin was taking on an gray tone.
        Lisa and Kelly heaved the heavy window open and they climbed out. Lisa reached back in and offered her hand to Dr. Yamada. He took it and they pulled him through. Kelly quickly closed the window behind them. She didn't know why she did it, but to her it seemed sensible. Dr. Yamada sat on the cool metal of the steps. His breathing was becoming shallow and he didn't have the energy to move.
        “Dr. Yamada, we have to go.” Lisa said.
        “You go get help. Leave me here. I can't go any further.” He said in a sleepy voice.
        Lisa frowned at the idea. “You want us to leave on on the fire escape?”
        “If I'm up here, then I'm safe. Now go.” He leaned back against the cool bricks and closed his eyes.
        Kelly had already started down the stairs. Lisa followed after. They reached the bottom and looked around. Night had fallen on them and it was pretty dark. There were a few lights in the court yard and at the front of the hospital. Otherwise St. Anthony's Memorial was on the outskirts of Washington DC. The grounds had been designed to look like a mountain type area. There were large pine tree's that greeted visitors as they drove on to the grounds of the hospital.
        The hospital was huge, and there wasn't much around. A few miles away were the hotels that ran shuttles to and from the airport. She though about going there. She could catch a shuttle and get to the airport. Bad idea she decided. She had a dozen little bottles full of liquid. She would never get past security, but if she got to one of the hotels she could sent them in the mail. The hotels had the kind of service. She could easily ship the vials to her home out west. And then what? She didn't know.
        Kelly had already taken off. Lisa hadn't seen in which direction either. She had assumed that Kelly was running to get help. Maybe to find a pay phone. In the little time that she had known Kelly, she had come to admire the young nurse. In fact, she was sure that Kelly was getting help. So she clutched her bag to her chest and ran through the forest. And the moans of the dead rose in the night.

Author's Note

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Authors Notes: The story Vaccine is Authored by Liz Sims & Ryan Cross. Wanted to make sure good 'ol Ryan was getting some recognition!

Reviews

[Chases-Lost-Ghosts]

Classic zombie story, good start though I felt the initial charcter put 2 & 2 together rather quickly. It is compelling & I would like to read more, though the gramatical errors do pull the reader out. such as this;

"Dr. Styles lips had long been ripped off, and a pool of stick blood had formed around the body."

The "stick blood" did you mean sticky or sickly? These things pull your reader our of the tale & while I understand you can't catch every typo (& if you did think of all those poor editors you'd put out of work! lol) there were some that stood out. The afore mentioned & the similie you used about the blood "pretty stationary" were the worst points, for this later one the description of congealing would have been a better fit.

I really do hope you return to add to your story & please do not take offense at my comments, I only wish to help. Best to you!

[David-Tyler]

Hot damn, this is way interesting! I saw the about and it took me off guard a little bit, I love the concept! Your author's voice was way intriguing too "hell in a hand basket", surprised I haven't heard that more living in the south. I'm going to read the next chapter asao

[Marissa]

OMG this is very intense!! I asbsolutely LOVE it! The pace is fast and urgent and there's a thrill that makes me want to read more! Great job! I'm going right to the next chapter!

[Fabian G. Franklin]

This does remind me of the Will Smith movie but its a great interesting angle nonetheless. Good writing.

[KazuHaya]

. . . I Am Legend?

Catchy, though.