John O'Brien - Chaos

“Here, let me see that,” she says to the bleeding soldier.

As he withdraws his hand, she sees a chunk of flesh has been taken out of his left cheek and is bleeding freely as facial wounds will. Lynn removes her fatigue shirt and t-shirt underneath pressing the t-shirt against his wound.

“Hold that tight,” she says and replaces her fatigue top.

The Corporal turns his head, looking into her eyes, his eyes still wide with fear and adrenaline. “Thanks, Sergeant,” he says pressing his hand to the t-shirt, holding it in place.

“No worries, Corporal,” she replies and looks to the door, noticing heads poking into the room.

“Go find me some speed tape,” she says to a group gathered at the entrance peeking in, and the heads disappear.

Lynn then sits with a heavy sigh and looks over the lit interior more closely. Racks of weapons line the middle interior and walls. There are also crates stacked at intervals throughout the room. There is no sign of movement and she glances back at the three enlisted men and one woman around the unconscious form on the floor. One of the men is holding the form’s arms at its back while another sits on its legs. Standing, Lynn takes a couple of steps over to assess.

“Roll him onto his back,” she says wanting to get a look at him.

Releasing his hold on the arms, one of the soldiers rolls it face up. There is almost a unified gasp as the attacker is shown in the bright lights. Its skin is a pale ashen gray, mottled by darker gray patches both large and small with a patch of bright red blood splashed on the lips and skin around the mouth. Thinking she has killed the soldier, Lynn reaches out once again to check for a pulse. The skin feels clammy and cool to the touch, almost like it should be wet. Her fingers come up dry though as she verifies a rapid pulse from its neck.

“What happened to him?” One of the Privates asks gazing down with wide eyes and raised eyebrows at the still form.

“I don’t know,” she says thinking it must have something to do with the vaccinations or the flu itself. Perhaps that’s why they stopped the vaccinations , she thinks to herself.

She hears steps behind her and turns her head over her shoulder to see another soldier approach with a roll of duct tape in his hand. “Found some, First Sergeant,” he says and hands it to her.

Rolling the thing on its back once more, they bind its hands and ankles. “Get him outside,” she says as they finish up.

“Clear a path!” She yells to the group at the entrance and the entrance room beyond.

Lynn follows behind as they carry the body, two grabbing under the arms and another at the feet. She can hear several muted gasps as others see the body for the first time. They carry it outside.

“Set him there,” she says pointing to a spot of deeper sand just away from the building. “And find something to shade him with.”

Emerging from the shadow of the building, with the entire group in tow, they set the still unconscious body on the sand. “What happened in there, Sergeant Connell?” Major Bannerman asks once they are outside into the bright sun and fierce heat.

The question falls on seemingly deaf ears as Lynn and the rest are staring at the figure and the immediate transformation it seems to be going through. The exposed skin of the face begins to redden, becoming like an instant sunburn. The thing’s eyes pop open widely and it begins to howl and shriek, thrashing wildly, its back arching up as though in extreme pain. The skin’s redness darkens even further, to the point where it seems like it should be smoking. The ear-piercing shrieks continue almost non-stop, all of this happening within seconds.

“Get it inside!” Lynn yells above the shrieks and takes a step towards it to help.

Before her second step, the wild arching subsides and it falls limply to the ground as the shrieking abruptly ends. She rapidly goes to her knees beside the limp form checking for a pulse but finds none. The skin is extremely warm and dry to her touch.

“He’s dead,” she says, looking back over her shoulder at the group and Major Bannerman.

Standing, Lynn then answers Bannerman’s question and relates the events inside, giving more of an overview than a detailed description. “Sir, may I speak?” She asks after finishing her description. Major Bannerman then leads her a little ways away from the group.

“Sir, I think we may be dealing with some kind of reaction to either the vaccination or the flu itself. It appears that whatever it is makes them hostile attacking others. And whatever transformation it is apparently makes them quite sensitive to light. Or outside light at least,” she says pulling several facts together. Those being that they seem to be active at night and that they found this one in a darkened room along with its reaction to the outside light. “I think we should deal with them as hostiles until we know better.”

“Good idea, Sergeant,” Bannerman says, “We’ll draw weapons and hole up in the TOC until help arrives.”

“Sir, I’m not sure help is coming if this is associated with the vaccinations. The whole world was inoculated or at least exposed to the virus. And, I tried calling almost everyone back at Lewis along with several other installations. No one answered.”

“What’s your suggestion then, Sergeant Connell? How are we going to get out of here?”

“I would suggest we arm up, gather water and rations and hole up in the tower at the airfield. It will have telephones along with radios to contact any aircraft still flying. Plus, it’s easily defendable. We have plenty of food and water here if things are truly a worst case scenario,” Lynn replies to his questions. “If we can hold out here for perhaps five days and no help arrives, then we can load up vehicles with rations, fuel, and ammo and evaluate the best route and destination.”

“Very good, Sergeant. That sounds good to me,” Bannerman says and turns back towards the group.

The very first thoughts of the surrealness of the situation begin to form in Lynn’s mind. This may be similar to the very situations Jack, her, and a few others discussed as wild, ‘what if’ scenarios. What would they do if a zombie invasion happened? Is this really something global? She thinks. I hope Jack is okay. Will he actually come pick me up as they discussed? Too weird to think about but the tower is a logical place to go in any case.

Back at the group, who is mostly staring at the limp body lying in the sand, Major Bannerman addresses the group and details the plan they came up with.

“What about leaving now, sir?” A voice sounds from somewhere in the group.

“It’s a deathtrap here, sir,” another sounds out.

“I think the best idea is to stay here until we get more info,” Bannerman says and turns to Lynn. “Sergeant Connell, see to the weapon dispersal.”

“Yes, sir. You four, with me,” Lynn says pointing out four enlisted, “We’re going to clear the armory and then same plan as before.”

After making sure the injured soldier is treated, Lynn and the four soldiers enter back into the armory. She gathers them at the doors leading into the actual armory. “Wedge formation. We’ll draw weapons at the first rack and then proceed to clear the room. Heads on a swivel. No firing if your line of sight isn’t clear; use the butt of your weapon,” Lynn says and details positions for the others; two in front with two on the sides putting herself in the middle to help out on either side. “Everything clear?”

“Yes, Sergeant,” they answer and proceed inside.

The weapons inside stand in mute silence. The detail detects no movement as they move warily to the first rack of M-16’s leaning in their racks; tense and with heads moving constantly. They draw weapons and, although expecting something, no sounds or attacks greet them on their journey through the room. All is silent. They clear the room and proceed back to the door.