Tonight The World Dies: Chapter One
Tonight, the world dies.
June 29th, 2011...
9:23 PM...
Somewhere in Washington DC...
Brain sighed in exasperation, flipping through another document, and like all the others he'd been through, this one was marked "Classified"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe-Eosmk6oE
He, like most of the others that worked in the CIA, were human. His build was above average, lightly tanned skin, Latino decent, all in all, an oddball of sorts for such a job as he'd landed. Born to a lower class family and raised, for the most part, in Mexico City, he'd grown up on the streets, scrounging for food, abused and oppressed, as his parents called it. The fact that he'd come over the US border illegally, changed his name to Brian Felix Alexander, and then lied about almost everything from that point on up to joining the CIA really seemed... off, to say the least. But after a short time in the states, his profound skills with a computer, (oddly enough these skills had been discovered when he'd managed to steal a laptop from an American Tourist) had allowed him to hack into a few government mainframes, all for fun of course, and after that... well, it hadn't taken him long to be offered a job, and quite a good pay rate to go with that job. The fact that he could understand and manipulate a machine with no real prior learning of such things was what he figured had really landed him the job... it meant one less rooky to train, and more money to spend on other things...
At only 39 years of age, he certainly was nowhere near "over the hill" and his new government had obviously taken that into account with his work schedule. He'd been shifting through classified documents all day, the worst part of it was, this wasn't even his department, but the agency was short on staff as of late, and only a few of the highest levels of government were even supposed to know what the fuck had been going on for the past week. Brian knew though... he knew all too well what had happened, what could happen from here. He wasn't supposed to know, it had never been intended for him to stumble over those files, those documents that should have remained hidden from his eyes. He knew however, knew too much, and so they'd put him in a safe house, going through documents, trying to discover where it had all began, and on the side, occasionally interviewing a few "individuals" who were suspected of either being part of the cause, or possibly knowing enough to help stop the progress of the "disease", as the agency called it.
He was becoming annoyed with this menial task however... What good could come of searching through papers like this and interviewing a bunch of scared people? No matter how much Brian thought about this, an answer would not come to alleviate his curiosity. He'd asked around, tried to find out what was being searched for. The answers he'd gotten the most were simply "A cure for this infernal disease" or "A way to stop this epidemic" but it was the way those higher ups kept to themselves, not in the usual "this is classified information" way, but more or less as if something aside from a solution to the problem was being sought. His main duty though wasn't looking through documents, but interviewing a few, in his opinion, completely random civilians who had managed to survive this epidemic relatively unscathed. He was told that, due to the location these particular civilians had lived in, that they should have fallen under the sickness, but since they hadn't, it was possible that their bodies may be able to offer some form of cure, a resistance of some type to the virus... Brian thought it was all a load of crap.
He'd never been able to get a straight answer out of anyone concerning what was happening, even though he was in this shithole just as deep as anyone else. Perhaps it was the fact that he didn't really trust those he worked with that made him keep this train of thought, but despite not truly liking the job he now held, it paid handsomely, and he had an aging father and grandmother to support, so he continued in this line of work, despite his dislike for the people he worked with.
His thoughts continued to ramble in various directions, never really focusing entirely on the task at hand. Another document, a record of one of the survivors, caught his eye however.
"Alastar Aindreas..." he read aloud, quirking a brow "What an odd name... what a stupid name." Brian shook his head, a look of annoyance forming on his face as he began reading. If the name didn't catch his attention enough, the species of this Alastar did. He browsed over the first page, scowling in obvious disgust.
Name: Alastar Aindreas.
Age: 19
Birth Date: June 18th, 1992
Place Of birth: Orlando, Florida
Species: Dragon; Mixed breed
Brain stopped reading at "Species", still scowling. It was all he needed to know... this next interview was going to be tense for him. He hated these creatures with a passion, not necessarily all of them, furries, or anthros, as they were commonly called, but most of them. When asked about it, he'd just brush the question away like one who brushes a parasite from their skin, but almost everyone that worked with him for more than a day knew he had a dislike for dragons in particular.
He tried to think back, tried to remember a time when he wasn't aware of these creatures, but as long as he could remember, they'd been a part of life. Some stories, actually, a vast multitude of stories, circulated in the history books and among those calling themselves "Learned in the ways of the universe" or such shit as that, had come up with dozens of theories as to where and how these creatures came to be. There were records of anthros going back hundreds of years, many of which originated from the dark ages, but most of these stated only that these creatures were killed for sport. Other kinds of course, they called them "Ferals" had been reported. The dragons of lore and myth were the most commonly mentioned, fire breathing monsters that ravaged lands and destroyed entire cities. The others however, the anthros, had only been mentioned in a few various records, normally cast as slaves or food in society, their true origins were unknown. The "experts" came up with so much crap, stating as to why and how these creatures had come to be... in the end, Brain always figured some twisted humans had simply mated with various creatures, and while this theory didn't explain how offspring were born from such a sick matrimony, it sounded better in his mind than some alien beings coming to this planet and populating it with their "pets"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdq_DAjrEVk
Another sigh left him as he stood up, the binder that held the file on this Aindreas character in his left hand, while a cup of lukewarm coffee was held in his left. Most of the coffee he'd been getting lately had been stale, bitter, and tasting of things far worse than those he used to find in garbage cans on the streets of Mexico city. At least the cup he now held tasted half way decent, but no matter the taste, it kept him awake... He wanted sleep, but as he walked down the darker corridors of the facility, he realized that the more time he spent awake and alert, the better. Thoughts of death plagued his mind whenever he wasn't reading or keeping active lately. He'd seen thousands die slow, painful deaths, and he knew, despite all the reassurances he was given, that death could come at any time, that the facility could be overrun by those who had been infected. He still didn't know exactly what had happened, but he knew enough to theorize, in the end however, none of that mattered. He knew the world, or at least America, was damaged, likely beyond repair, and that help would likely never come.
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his name being called, the grisly, yet friendly voice a welcomed sound after the long hours spent in the documents room.
"Brain, good to see you still alive, I was beginning to worry that you'd gotten sick and died in there... what with how bad the coffee has been lately..." Connor, a young African American male, chided from a short ways down the hall. The man was only about 25 years of age, quite young and eager, even giddy at times, despite the grave situation that was at hand. He was stationed at the facility as a guard of sorts, dressed in military fatigues and combat boots. His appearance of a seasoned combat veteran was offset however by his cheerful nature, Brian had never seen the man angry, which was odd, but Connor's demeanor had changed over the past two weeks, growing more solemn, and the amount of jokes he made had decreased significantly. Still, despite all this, the man was a good way to break the depressing mood that hung in the air constantly, always burdening those with enough sense to realize it, always pointing out the fact that they were likely all dead men walking. The sole hope now was that a cure could be found, but Brain knew this was unlikely, Connor probably didn't... perhaps that was the reason he didn't show as much sadness as the others, maybe he didn't have a clue what was truly going on.
"Aye, I almost did die after the last two cups, I swear, this shit they call coffee is sure to kill us faster than any disease known to man" Brian replied in a kind tone, Connor was one of the few people he had taken a liking to, but oddly enough, he'd never learned the man's last name. This wasn't entirely his fault though, Connor kept all but his first name out of almost everything, as if he were ashamed of it or something of the sort, and Brian had never been curious enough to find out the details about Connor. He knew enough, he knew he liked the guy, and he knew he could trust him, that was all he really needed in the end. That didn't mean he didn't trust the man, far from it, in fact, as Brian walked with Connor towards the room where Aindreas had been placed, he realized that if it wasn't for Connor and the man's cheerful mood, everyone stationed in this research facility would probably have gone insane by now and killed each other off.
The thought was sobering in itself, the idea that one man was likely the only thing that allowed those in this place to cling to their sanity... Brian's musings were cut off as Connor stopped in front of a steel door, gesturing at it briefly "Well, the kid is in there, guess it's all on you from here..."
Brian glanced through the small window in the door, frowning as he noticed the creature inside. He didn't know how to judge the age of these creatures, he'd never bothered to learn, but Connor had called him a kid, so he couldn't have been that old mentality wise. He had to hold back quite a bit of annoyance as he realized the young red dragon was eating a pizza, and immediately Brian turned, glaring at Connor "Why did you give that thing the last pizza? I thought we'd agreed to save it for Monday, try to relieve some stress with everyone by watching a movie or something?"
Connor stared at Brian, his face a mask of emotions "I know..." he mumbled softly "But the kid looked hungry... I figured we'll get another food shipment in a few days, so it couldn't hurt" his eyes shifted to the door briefly "We've got plenty of MRE's left over to last..."
Brian sighed, shaking his head.
Connor looked at him apologetically "Sorry, I just wanted to help the kid out a bit. I could hear his stomach the whole time I was talking to him... I know you don't like them, Brian, but try to be nice to the kid. He's been through allot in the past few days, and I'm sure having a squad of men in black uniforms knock him into unconsciousness and then waking up in a dark room a few hours later didn't help..."
Brian forced a smile, nodding grimly, although a part of him just wanted to treat this dragon like the trash he was, he would be nice, for Connor if for nothing else... or at least, he'd try to be nice. He turned away, leaving Connor to his post. Unlatching the reinforced steel door, Brian stepped into the room, earning a brief glance from the dragon before the creature went back to ravaging the cold pizza. It still wasn't easy, to keep a smile, not with a creature he despised, but he did it anyways, sitting down in the chair opposite the dragon, a small five foot square table separating the two. He placed the files he was carrying onto the table and waited, letting the dragon grow accustomed to his presence, and finish eating at the same time. Now that he was closer, Brian's eyes began scanning the dragon, taking in the details of this creature. Like most anthros Brian was familiar with, this one wore human clothing, albeit slightly modified for his form. A lose fitting T-shirt, along with a pair of blue jeans with a hole cut in the rear for the drake's tail, and what Brian guessed was a very old pair of desert combat boots adorned the dragon. All of his clothing looked as if it had been sitting in a trash heap for a few days, torn and shredded; even the sturdy looking combat boots were far from being good condition. While Brian was a tad nervous about having someone in the facility that hadn't been decontaminated, he knew the virus didn't spread through the air, but by bodily fluids... blood, saliva, urine, possibly even semen... The last he wasn't sure of. It wasn't like the creatures that had nearly taken over the country had a desire to fuck, at least, he hoped they didn't... the last thing America and the world needed right now was for these things to be able to breed. He shook his head, clearing those thoughts from his mind before his gaze resumed moving over the dragon's form. The red scales that covered the majority of Alastar's form were contrasted by the almost mustard yellow scales on his chest, although Brian could only see those due to the rips in the dragon's shirt.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F88G4itQyds
"Well, you going to interrogate me, or just sit there staring?"
Brian was rather startled when the drake spoke, aside from the fact that he thought the creature had been too preoccupied with the pizza to speak, Brian had never really gotten used to hearing these animals speak in such a human-like voice. It was disconcerting at best, almost horrifying at worse when one actually bothered to think about it. His prejudice was interrupted again as the dragon finally set the remainder of the pizza down, about a third of it, and slid the remaining portion towards Brian.
"Interrogation on an empty stomach is rough" Alastar mumbled softly "for both parties involved..."
Brian quirked a brow, again surprised by the drake's words. He was beginning to feel that this might be either more difficult, or a helluva lot easier than he'd originally thought the task to be. Shaking his head, Brian flipped open the manila folder containing the dragon's files and began flipping through the pages "This isn't an interrogation"
This time, it was the dragon's turn to arch a brow, apparently he wasn't buying into the human's words "So, when a squad of uniformed guards ambush you, stick a needle in your neck before bringing you to an unknown location, it's... not setting up an interrogation?"
"No" Brian replied "You may hold some form of resistance to whatever virus has been turning the population into mindless zombies. The fact that you haven't been infected by the virus is important, and right now, your government needs you..."
Alastar snorted in disgust, an annoyed look on his face "My government can suck my dick! They left me, and everyone else for dead. Martial law was declared shortly before the news stations were hit, and the only thing I've seen the soldiers doing is disarming the people, just like they did when Katrina hit New Orleans!... most poor American bastards can't even defend themselves after that, left for dead would be a good term, wouldn't you agree?"
The drake practically snarled the question, perhaps it was his foreign nationality or something else, but he couldn't help but to agree. The American government had tried to cover up some things in the past... they hadn't done very well with this particular case, and had merely made excuses as to why "What your beliefs are right now aren't important, what is important is that we need to find out why you, along with several others, haven't contracted this virus..."
The drake remained silent.
"Okay..." Brian continued "Let me share with you a bit of information, and perhaps you'll change your mind once you realize what is going on..." Brian trailed off for a moment as he spotted the dragon's political orientation marked as Conservative... Well, that explained quite a bit..."Exactly thirty three days ago, a virus was discovered among several patients in a hospital. This virus's origins were unknown, or rather, how it had infected these seven Americans was unknown, its effects however, were not. The virus, after testing, appeared to be a strain of the Ebola virus, primarily the Zaire classification of that virus..." Brian stopped speaking, letting those words sink in for a moment before continuing. Word quickly spread, and within three days, a large part of the globe was in a panic about the thought of such a virus spreading. Over the next five days, over a thousand patients flowed into various hospitals around the world, showing symptoms of the Ebola virus. Abdominal pain, fever, headaches, the list of symptoms goes on and on. Most of these patients thought they had the flu, and even a few of the doctors had this same thought as well, but over the next two days, this was proven to be incorrect. Seven days later, a cure emerged, or so it was thought. This seemingly revolutionary new vaccine was supposed to cure a virus which, until that day, had remained incurable. One thousand two hundred and thirty three people had contracted the virus and come in for treatment over the course of less than a week. In America alone, over three hundred million people began flowing into the hospitals, seeking treatment, a vaccine, an antidote, some kind of cure for this virus, even those that weren't showing any symptoms flooded into the nearest hospital. They all had one thing in common, and that was a desire for this revolutionary vaccine. Something that wasn't discussed as much was the fact that letters were sent out about the outbreak, along with information about the cure. In essence, the entire country swarmed the hospitals, in the average case, something like this would have left the hospitals depleted of resources in a matter of hours, yet, that never happened in this case. The cure had been mass produced, and everyone that came in seeking treatment left after being vaccinated" Brain finally stopped speaking, again letting his words sink in, while at the same time making sure the drake didn't have any questions. When Alastar remained silent, Brian continued once more "Three days later-"
"Another virus broke out, turning the American continent into an undead nightmare" the drake finished without a pause, his face expressionless.
Brian arched a brow and continued "Yes... The reason you're here-"
"Is because I didn't contract the virus, either of them for that matter" Again, the drake finished Brian's sentence.
"So, you know why you're here, but the reason is still unknown as to why you didn't-"
"I didn't take the vaccine" Alastar mumbled flatly, his sapphire blue eyes locked with Brian's own hazel eyes.
"That vaccine was-"
"Government ordered to all those who hadn't come in less than two days after the vaccine was introduced, hence the reason I refused, along with my father..."
Brian scowled, but it was from the fact that the drake kept finishing his sentences more than anything else "Okay... So you didn't take the vaccine..." Brain trailed off, sighing... That means he can't offer a cure... Brian thought for a moment, wondering what he'd do now. Perhaps I should at least continue questioning him a bit more, get his story... maybe I can get a bit of useful information out of him...
"I don't have any useful information. The only thing I can tell you is how I got here, and what I did to do it" the drake mumbled, as if reading Brian's mind.
His thoughts interrupted, Brian remained silent for a few brief moments before nodding "Well, I have nothing better to do at the moment. I suppose I could go interview another one of the people brought in, but I get the feeling that they would tell me the same thing you just did..."
"That they didn't take the vaccine either"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDiafRArjAk
Brian nodded, sighing "If that's the case, I don't know what we'll do, as a country, about the plague..."
"We'll do the only thing we can do..." the drake whispered softly, tenting his fingers and resting his muzzle upon them "We'll survive... Maybe, given enough time, even find out who was behind this infection and kill them, just liked they... killed my family..."
There was a knock at the door, breaking the silence for a brief moment "Come in" Brian said, and the next moment, the door opened, Connor stepping in and closing the steel door behind him.
Alastar immediately looked towards the door. Spotting the human, he gave a friendly smile and nod "Nice of you to join us, Connor, your friend here was trying to do what the zombies couldn't and bore me to death" he chuckled, smirking.
While Brian looked slightly annoyed at the comment, Connor grinned, covering his mouth with a hand to keep from laughing. Once he was sure that he wasn't going to laugh, the human pulled up a chair and sat down on the drake's right "Well, I was getting bored sitting out there, so I decided to come sit and here and hopefully keep you two from strangling each other" Connor finally snickered as he finished, his boyish humor showing once more. Brain couldn't help but smile, it was that humor that was keeping them alive at this point, and he knew that if he didn't share a bit of it, he'd lose his mind within a few days.
"If you two are finished" Brian stated, a bit of seriousness flooding back into his tone "I believe we should continue. Alastar, I believe you were going to inform myself, and now Connor, of how you got here?"
Connor's smile faded slightly as he spoke up "He already told me a portion of it, the first two or three days..."
Alastar nodded after a moment and continued "Yea, we had a good talk... You're damned lucky to have someone with a good sense of humor, Brian..."
Brian quirked a brow, glancing to Connor, who then shrugged his shoulders "Figured he should know the names of some of the staff" Connor spoke apologetically, and after a moment, Brian nodded before motioning for the drake to continue.
"Anyways..." Alastar began anew "I believe it was the thirteenth of June... almost my birthday, only reason I remember the date was because my mother had been feeling rather sick that day after coming back from the doctor's office..."
Brain leaned over the table, supporting his head with his right left hand. He knew this was going to be a long story... might as well get comfortable...
The end...
Of the Beginning.
Well, it took longer than I'd wanted it to, but there ya have it, more zombies are incoming. I figured it was time I started writing in the genre again, seeing as it has been quite some time since I released a chapter of the apocalypse. This story, if ya haven't figured it out by now, is set in a slightly alternate universe as my usual series, and it's going to be more realistic than my other series. Hopefully those reading enjoyed this little glimpse into what is to come, I know there will be more coming soon enough, but for now, it's just a way to get my lazy ass writing again. Hopefully, within the next week or so, I'll be able to update the other two stories I'm working on, as both have chapters that are nearly completed.
Hopefully typos and grammar mistakes are down to a minimum... for once, I didn't bother to proofread the damned thing three times over before uploading, so I'm sure a few people spotted some mistakes.
As always, tell me what ya thought of this little piece. Not much point in writing if I can't get feedback on the things I post.