One particular individual that had previously been living a normal life was Chad Eckland. Thanks to his medication no one had a clue he was an MHMR patient that had a mental condition when he was much younger. He had worked for a leading bank in the US for the past fifteen years and had been promoted all the way up to regional bank manager. Once the medication became impossible to find (he searched everywhere possible being that his sanity was as important to him as the oxygen he breathed), he slowly lost himself to a newly stronger psychosis likely brought about by the environment and conditions around him. The living and
Fallen
all began to look exactly alike to him. They all appeared as monsters from the most horrific of nightmares. At first he would run and hide, then a survival instinct kicked in. He began killing these monsters when necessary to obtain things he deemed necessary to live. His illness grew worse by the day. Eventually with guns and other weapons of choice, he began his plan to eradicate all the monsters. According to one of the few news channels broadcasting all days long (the only thing you could find if you turned on the television) it was estimated that hundreds died in his wake within a few days before he simply vanished.
By the anniversary of the explosion the living still hanging on were few, grief stricken, and dangerous in their own right from surviving under frightening conditions.
Let me return to my own story and explain how all of these things personally affected Carmen and myself. Watching the news of the attack on the couple in the park was horrendous. It was unimaginable that such a thing could in the slightest possibility exist. At the same time it was evident that the government had often attempted to play God with genetics. They were always working on new methods of devastation for no other purpose than to have a weapon they could use if the occasion ever arose. It was actually surprising something like this had not occurred sooner (at least to my knowledge. No way of knowing what all they have covered up over the years).
When the snow began to fall it came down heavy. It quickly became waist high around our property. We sat around the fireplace drinking hot cocoa while making plans for worst case scenarios. We watched television occasionally although most channels showed ‘no service’ due to so many suddenly becoming ill. The now news only channel discussed the Living Death epidemic, crime on the rise, and the
Fallen
spreading throughout the streets.
I attempted to contact my siblings to see how they were doing. Of the three which were now spread out across the US, I was only able to get in touch with Leah. She told me that the rest of the family (her husband and kids) had come down with what she believed was the flu, but everything else was alright. I asked if they had been in to see a doctor. She laughed and said doctors were useless and charged too much. She repeated assuredly that she was sure it was just the flu. I knew that money was not actually an issue if they actually wanted to go to see a doctor seeing how as I had funds deposited into all of my sibling’s accounts on a monthly basis (Leah was the last to allow me to make that arrangement due to being stubborn with providing for herself especially since I had supposedly already done way too much for them). I eventually let her go after attempting numerous times to suggest they should visit a doctor. I was worried it might be worse than she suggested. I told her to keep in touch and let me know if she needed anything. I never heard from her again (the phone would ring endlessly when I tried to call her).
The power went out a few days after the last news channel stopped broadcasting. The backup generator kicked on lasting another couple days. I refilled it, but decided that we needed to use the electricity as little as possible. I really wished I had installed some sort of solar or wind source to recharge the generator since fuel would eventually be hard to come by. There was also the fact that we would need as much gas as we could save to get to Ruidoso if we chose to do so. We had a large stockpile of candles to use when necessary with near endless matches (the kind that always strike even if they get wet). Preparing meals was easy enough to do. At first with the small camp stove until it ran out of propane. Then we used the wood burning stove which gave the food a nice flavor. I closed off the doors through the house in an attempt to preserve the heat from the fireplace in the living room where we would now be sleeping.
With the power out elsewhere in the city using water from the tap became impossible due to possible contamination. One morning while I was cozily sleeping in, Carmen become disgusted with not being able to take a bath. She didn’t want to waste the bottled water so instead took a huge pot outside filling it with snow. She made several trips continuously heating it over the stove to fill the tub in the bathroom closest to the back of the house.
After filling it she immersed herself in what was now mildly warm water. She cleaned until satisfied then fell asleep while relaxing. I woke up and went in search of her finding her in the tub with her eyes closed. I was at first confused as to where the water came from being slightly groggy and half awake. I simply asked if the power was back on.
“Sadly no dear. It was quite an exhausting chore, but this wonderful water is snow that I heated over the stove.”
I shook myself awake and my eyes grew in size from immediate worry. I found the words coming out of my mouth in a rush sounding like gibberish. I had to repeat myself slower to make the words comprehensible.
“Did you just say that you used the snow? Sweetheart, all those millions of people with the symptoms like pneumonia that lead to Living Death were likely caused by whatever is in that snow!”
“If it was the snow, shouldn’t boiling it have killed whatever was in it? Isn’t it possible that it could be something in the air brought on by the cold weather that caused all those people to get sick?”
“If it is in fact the snow, boiling it logically will kill almost any impurifications. However, there are exceptions to every rule. There are strands of viruses for example that will only die off it the temperature reaches a certain height. Even then we know absolutely nothing about this disease and there is always a chance that it can ignore all the rules completely being immune to heat or becoming active once it reaches a certain temperature for example.”
Carmen jumped out of the tub toweling off. Half way through drying herself she sat down and completely breaking down in tears. A few minutes passed before she regained enough composure to talk again.
“I feel so stupid. All I could think about was how filthy I was and that I must smell awful. I didn’t want to waste the bottled water. What have I done?”
“I’m sorry if I have made you overly worried beautiful. I just don’t know what I would do without you. I don’t want anything to happen to you. I’m sure I am just overthinking everything. There is probably nothing to worry about at all. But just to be safe, let’s not take any more chances. After the snow melts we’ll head for the cabin perhaps? There will be less of a chance of hordes of
Fallen
or looters finding us out there.”
Carmen stood up throwing her arms around me, her towel falling to the floor. We began kissing for several minutes which led to other things. We had a nice lunch followed by more kissing.
As night began to fall I added firewood to the fireplace (I had several trees worth stashed out in one of the adjoining garages as part of the preparations I had previously made). We laid near the fireplace cuddling. We pretended the outside world with all its problems did not exist. We talked about how many children we would have while thinking up the best names for them. We spoke about where it would be nice to go on a vacation. We pretended we were simply a love-struck couple with nothing to stop us from fulfilling our dreams. As the fire died down we told each other how much we loved the other before falling asleep in one another’s arms.
At around five in the morning Carmen screamed. I woke up instantly grasping for my pistol. The next thing I heard was not quite clear as it was spoken softly in a mumble. I could of sworn it sounded like she was saying something about not burying her body in the snow because she would probably come back to eat me for dinner. My heart slowed down and I put the gun back on the coffee table. She was obviously having a nightmare although I cannot recall her ever having one before. I tried to cuddle with her (hopefully reassuring her in the depths of her mind while dreaming). As soon as I touched her skin I could tell she was burning up with a fever. Needless to say I woke her the best I could. I gave her medicine to reduce fever. When that didn’t work I used several cases of bottled water to fill the tub. I undressed her physically putting her into it. I checked her fever with a thermometer which read a hundred and three.
Regardless of the fact that I knew her illness was only going to get worse, around eight in the morning I grabbed the keys to my truck. Heading to the garage I took my automatic pistol, assault rifle, and a grenade (don’t even ask how I was able to obtain it). I also grabbed a small pack with water, first aid kit, and other various items just to be safe. Pressing the button to the automatic garage I remembered the generator was off (old habits I suppose). I lifted the door manually before driving to the main gate.
On the way into town I passed several of the
Fallen
which were even more terrifying to see in person than on the television. Most stood around or walked about at a slow pace. Others seemed to have some intelligence despite the fact they were not alive in the normal sense of the word. They would duck down beside a car or step into the shadows when they saw my truck (like secretly stalking prey from cover). The fact that they could also run was quite unsettling. I had assumed they would all walk around with their arms outstretched I suppose (like in the really old movies I watched as a kid). The streets were for the most part clear of cars as most stayed home after getting sick. I made my way to Drake pharmacy which was where I usually got prescriptions. The front entrance had already been broken into. I drove around the building several times to make sure none of the
Fallen
were lurking about. I backed up to the entrance blocking it off with the rear end of my truck leaving access only from the over the top of my tailgate. Grabbing the assault rifle I hopped quickly out of the truck and into the bed of the truck.
“Is anyone in there? I’m armed and coming in for an antibiotic for my wife. I’m not here to take anything else or cause any trouble.” I spoke into the seemingly empty store. I crawled over into the threshold finding bodied stacked in small piles lying about.
A deep gruff voice replied from somewhere inside, “See Danny in the back at the pharmacy. You better not cause any trouble. There are three of us watching you and will not hesitate to shoot you dead if you try anything funny.” The voice traveled down from the top of a nearby metal display rack.
I glanced up seeing that there were indeed three men with guns trained directly on me. Lowering my rifle I carefully made my way to the back trying not to give an impression that could be taken the wrong way. At the back of the store I found the pharmacy area completely secured with what appeared to be chicken wire and old fence posts. The only opening was a drop box that had been installed. A heavily muscled man which appeared slightly shorter than the others at the front stood behind a counter wearing a cloth face mask.
“Danny I presume?”
“Indeed, what can I do for ya?”
“Do you get many customers?”
He laughed, “Actually it was quite busy for a while with the living. At least until about four days ago. I had just decided this morning that after today there was probably no point coming back. Was gonna clean out the meds before heading to Colorado with my brothers.”
“What’s in Colorado?”
Well no safe house or quarantine zone if that’s what you’re asking. We’re gonna see if our paw or sis made it by chance. So tell me, what can I do ya for at my humble little pharmacy?”
“Your pharmacy?”
“Possession being nine tenths of the law and no one about to argue, yep my pharmacy. If that doesn’t satisfy you, I do actually have a pharmacist degree. Being one of the few alive that actually knows what each of these meds are kinda seems like a good reason for me to be take charge of the place.”
“To tell the truth both sound like very good reasons to me. Honestly I would likely be lost hunting through all those meds trying to find the antibiotics I can recall taking over the years.”
“Ahh, antibiotics is it? For you or someone else? Any known allergies?”
“It’s for my wife. She is allergic to Penicillin.”
“What is her affliction? Need to know so I can give her the right kind of antibiotic providing I have some.”
“To be straight to the point, I think she may have come down with the Living Death epidemic, but am hoping it is just the Flu or Pneumonia.”
Danny’s facial expression changed to a somber deep frown. “Extremely sorry to hear about your wife. I hope it is just the Flu. There have been too many good folk turning into those things lately. As for the antibiotic you need, you won’t find it here or likely at any of the pharmacies about because of the epidemic. It is possible that there may be some at the hospitals which are of course crawling with the
Fallen
. Regardless, it will definitely not be easy to obtain.”