| The zombies were getting very close. “Stay back!” he shouted, “I have a gun!” They didn’t stop. He had never used a gun before. He took a deep breath, readied the weapon…and fired. One the zombies fell apart. A moment passed before the other two, not yet so consumed by the disease to fail to comprehend the danger to their own lives turned away and began shambling at full speed away from Davis. Davis ran into the store where he had heard the scream. A woman was on the floor, the intended victim of the zombies. “Can you stand?” Davis asked her. “Yes,” she responded, rising. “I’m not hurt.” She looked at Davis gratefully. “If you hadn’t come when you did…” “Let’s not think about it,” Davis cut her off. “Look.” A television was in the store, tuned to the local news. He turned up the volume. “The quarantine around the St. Matthias’ district has broken,” on the television the correspondent looked quite worried. “City police no longer have any control over the area. The disease is now on the loose. No one has any idea how rampant the disease is or how to stop it.” Her voice was shaking now. Suddenly her face froze in fear. On the screen Davis saw zombies, like the ones he had just chased off, coming onto the set. One of them grabbed the correspondent and began to lift her up then, as she began to scream, the picture went black. Davis looked to the woman he had just saved. “We have to get out of here. Now.” “We can’t. We’re stuck here,” she responded. “They won’t let us out of the city.” “No,” Davis said, “the quarantine is broken, it’s every man for himself.” “Not the d*** quarantine,” she began to pace, “It’s the government, the army or some s***. They’ve been sending patrols. I was hiding in here when those things came in. They’ll come by again pretty soon I bet if you wanna wait.” So they waited. Davis learned that the woman’s name was Jaina Cane. Jaina, she explained was the name of her father’s favorite cow. After about a half an hour, Davis heard a vehicle coming, and a voice over a loudspeaker. “Here they come,” whispered Jaina, “shut up and get down!” A Jeep rolled into view. Inside there were soldiers in black. One of them had a megaphone and was yelling into it, “This is the United States Army. The city is no longer safe. We are officially undergoing an outbreak of smallpox. A complete quarantine of the entire city is now in effect. Anyone not infected is to come with us to an official holding area where you will be kept safely until the crisis is over. I repeat: for your own safety any healthy individuals are to show themselves now.” “Well?” Davis whispered, “shouldn’t we go over there?” “No you idiot!” Jaina hissed, “Stay down!” “You heard him,” he said, “the city’s run over with smallpox. We’re in danger.” “Have you ever seen a case of smallpox?” “No…” “Well neither have I,” Jaina responded, “but I know it don’t turn people into zombies.” The Jeep rolled out of sight and earshot, she continued, at a normal voice, “This is no outbreak of smallpox. This is something the government doesn’t know how to deal with and they’re trying to cover it up. They’re not going to take us to safety; they’re going to put us in a holding pen and wait until we all get infected and die. Then they’ll tell everyone it was smallpox to save face.” “I really don’t think this is the time for conspiracy theory.” “This isn’t conspiracy theory! There’s a cover-up going on and I’m not going to get caught in it. Why would they call it smallpox if they didn’t have something to hide? They’re lying to us Davis, and trying to corral us all up so they can deal with us. Do what you want, but I’m not going to rot in some containment center.” “Fine,” Davis sighed, “we’ll walk.” |