Preview
INFECTION DAY, Part 1
Toey stood with her five companions on the low hill, the cell phone transmission tower behind them. She looked down across a sea of undead, a vast swarming mass that surrounded one end of Bangkok’s International Airport at Suvarnabhumi.
“Why have they stopped?” Natt asked.
“I don’t know,” Toey replied slowly, knowing they all looked to her for decisions, to keep them safe. She accepted that.
“Shouldn’t we get away?” Natt asked.
Toey turned to Fai. “Any idea why there’re so focused on the airport?”
Earlier that day Fai had stayed behind with Behrouz in the fortress-like airport business lounge.
“If it wasn’t for Bez here,” Fai said, “we’d still be in there – trapped.”
Toey looked inquiringly at the young man. His uncle had fallen to the undead – the zee’s – the day before.
“They don’t seem to be interested in the airport, not anymore,” Behrouz said.
“What do you mean?”
“I was watching through the window when they got past the fence,” he said. “I saw one of them looking back at me. Not like the others. It was like he knew where he was, what he was doing.”
Toey exhaled a long breath and turned her attention to the nearest of the airport buildings. Sure enough, the zee’s were not pressed against its wall, they were clustered instead on both sides of the fence, leaving a thirty foot gap around the buildings.
Behrouz stepped closer to Toey and pointed out a section of the fence. “The one that saw me, he’s at the fence now, across from another one – like him.”
“Were they – uh, communicating?” Fai asked.
He shrugged. “Seemed like it.”
“Good work, Bez,” Toey said. She took a last look at the somnolent crowd of undead – slow zee’s. Most were swaying from side to side, and a few here and there stood very still, their heads tilted up.
Toey turned to Natt and Luc. “Fast zee’s, like what we saw downtown.”
Luc exhaled rapidly. “If they can communicate, things just got a whole lot worse.”
Toey looked at the others. “Okay, let’s go.”she said. “Leave the car. We’ll take the truck.”
Fai turned and jogged ahead, leaping into the truck’s cab, Behrouz and Onteera right behind her. Natt smiled as she and Toey climbed into the flatbed alongside Luc.
Natt ran her hand along the barrel of the tripod-mounted M60 machine gun, which the others had secured to the flatbed floor. “Looks like Fai and On have been busy.”
The M60’s barrel had about ten inches clearance above the truck’s adjustable sides.
Fai pulled smoothly out of the small parking lot. They all watched to see what the mass of zombies would do.
Fai accelerated, the hiss of the tires adding to the evening stillness. The undead all tilted their heads towards the truck. Without warning the mass suddenly moved in their direction, a slow-moving wave surging forward like an insect horde.
Toey stood at the front gripping the flatbed wall, her eyes scanning their pursuers for any fast zee’s. She recalled the fast pack that attacked the car they commandeered earlier that day, when she and Natt and Luc were downtown. Those zee’s weren’t just fast, she thought. They were insanely, inhumanly fast, and disciplined, focused. Most of the undead were still very slow, moving in their shambling staggering half-walk. With any luck most will stay that way, she thought. As Fai pulled onto the side road to the expressway, the mass lurched, flailing after them, a bit faster. Toey leaned down and lifted open the gun box strapped to the cab wall. She retrieved a Glock and a Walther PPK, rechecked the magazines for both, and handed the PPK to Luc. She stood up and hung on.
Parts of the leading wave pressed further forward in places, their speed increasing. Toey knew rationally that slow zee’s weren’t hard to avoid, or outrun, it was how relentless and implacable they were, that’s what unnerved her. They don’t stop until something stops them, or distracts them.
Toey was tossed back and forth as Fai dodged bodies on the road. Walking they don’t move their arms, she noticed. As their feet pound the pavement their chests compensate for their motionless arms by swaying from side to side, like drunken penguins.
Natt released the safety on the M60. They had realized that if they could get away without shooting, so much the better. Shooting zee’s only made sense during an attack, or to make an area secure. Other than that it was just wasting ammunition. The tide of undead was endless.
“No fast zee’s,” Toey said, relieved.
“Not yet,” Luc replied, ever the optimist.
Natt laughed from behind the gun. “Luc, it’s a great day to be alive!”
He smiled, shaking his head.
“I spoke too soon,” Toey added, nodding at one flank of the advancing swarm. A clot of fast zee’s had appeared from behind the airport courier building, their legs and arms a blur of motion as they pounded their way forward.
Natt pulled the M60 back as Toey leaned down and secured a floor-latch of one of the M60 tripod legs. Looking up, she and Natt exchanged a glance.
As Fai turned hard onto a highway feeder ramp Luc was thrown to the side. He hung onto the flatbed side, his upper body leaning out precariously. Toey grabbed hold of his belt and pulled, and he fell against the tripod, his legs splayed out. She let go and he rolled forward to the cab wall. Toey leaned down and again secured the tripod latch.
The running fast zee’s were crossing the patch in the lee of the ramp. Fai barreled out overshooting and crossed three lanes before straightening out. The lanes were an obstacle course of abandoned vehicles and uninfected corpses, and slow zee’s out for a lurching stroll. The fast zee’s leapt the guardrail one after another as Natt opened up with a strafing burst. Four of the fast zee’s fell as a larger wave bounded over, fanning out. The truck hit an undead speed bump and swerved, and seconds later a staccato series of bumps had them rocking from side to side.
A hand appeared on the side and Natt let loose with the M60 as the zee’s body swung up. One of his arms was ripped loose at the shoulder and went sailing off behind him as half his torso disappeared in an arcing jetstream of entrails. He kept coming as a bullet exploded through his forehead and he disappeared back over the side.
Two more fast zee’s appeared in rapid succession. Toey leaned back against the cab and brought up the PPK and double-tapped the one near the front as Natt sent a stream of suppressing fire towards the one in the rear. His head above the jaw was shorn. They both fell away.
Fai careened to one side and straightened out again. Toey looked forward out over the cab and saw the highway ahead was miraculously clear for miles. Natt glanced her way and Toey flashed her a thumbs up.
The other fast zee’s were following now in a tight clot about a hundred yards back, falling further behind as Fai accelerated. Luc stood next to Toey in the flatbed’s front corner. Scanning the road behind he pointed to where the airport’s runways came close to the highway. A mass of undead – slow zee’s – were spilling out across and filling all four lanes. Wave after wave flooded the lanes, joining the undead tide already following now in their wake.
Toey knocked twice on the cab window. When Onteera turned around Toey pointed to a turnoff, and Fai slammed onto it. She drove about a half-mile up the side road to a point not visible to the highway, and pulled to a stop. They got out and walked back up to a ridge overlooking the highway.
Toey looked across the ravine. The early evening sky looked as innocent, as untarnished as ever. She shook her head. The world was apparently indifferent to the infection and mass reanimations that had occurred. Or had we somehow done this to ourselves, she wondered. Would any human presence remain in a generation? They lay on the ridge looking down at the four lanes.
“What’s the plan?” Onteera asked. “Do we even have one?”
No one actually turned to Toey, but she could feel their expectation. “
My old mentor, Somkid, had an office in Nakhon Pathom,” she said. “I’d like to check it out.”
“Why?” Fai asked, curious.
“When I last saw him four years ago he was convinced some sort of contagion would come, something new.” She looked at the others. “Today we’ve seen undead that are fast.” She nodded to Behrouz. “And we saw zee’s that appeared sentient, maybe even cognizant and able to communicate. If we’re to survive we need to understand what’s causing that.”
“True,” Natt said. “At first the zee’s were slow, uncoordinated, easy to avoid or outrun. Or put down. But now –”
“Most are still slow,” Fai said. “And I hope it stays that way. But you’re right – the fast zee’s can appear without warning, at any time.”
Toey half-listened as they talked on. After a few minutes the fast zee’s pursuing them showed up on the highway below. They kept right on running, and passed the turnoff. The small group of survivors breathed a sigh of relief.
Onteera turned back to Toey. “How does your friend’s office figure in all this? He expected a contagion. So what?”
“Somkid had a theory about the worst-case contagion, what form it would take. He called it a consciousness virus.”
“A what?” Onteera blurted.
“A virus for the infection?” Behrouz asked.
“He didn’t foresee it as a global pandemic – but yes, he thought a localized infection, with a viral source in consciousness itself, was possible.”
“That’s crazy,” Luc said. “Consciousness is just electrical impulses in the brain. How could that carry a virus?”
“That’s what I want to find out.”
“Wait. So he thought the reanimation was a disease of consciousness?”
Toey shook her head. “He never spoke of any form of reanimation. But now – well, it seems less crazy than it did.”
Again Toey paused. She had not said much to them about Somkid, not even to Natt. And Luc and Behrouz had only joined them the day before, though it seemed much longer.
The zee’s were long gone, and they slowly stood up.
“Wait a minute,” Luc said suddenly. “The pellets we picked up at the river market yesterday – that was from Somkid too, wasn’t it? Is there a link?”
“No, not really,” Toey said. “The pellets are unusual, granted, but they’re just a holistic aid to meditation, and part of his work on consciousness.”
Onteera brushed off her jeans. “Okay, so what do you hope to find in his office?”
Again Toey looked down at the highway. “I can’t tell you that because I don’t know.” She shrugged, embarrassed. “It’s a feeling.”
“Your friend’s office at the campus in Nakhon Pathom sounds good,” Natt said. “If there’s any chance he left something for you to help in this fight, it’s worth checking out. Even if it’s just information.” They started back towards the truck.
“Toey,” Behrouz said quietly, “do you really think all this could be a disease of consciousness?”
“Somkid was a scientist, but he was more than that too. Years ago he was a monk, and some of his work explored consciousness. What it is, how it manifests, and what diseases it might create, or carry.”
On that note they climbed into the truck and set about looking for an empty farmhouse to stay for the night. As the truck headed up the side road there were no zombies in sight, slow or fast.
End of Preview
About the Author
Stephen J. Carter is a Canadian writer living in Chiang Mai, Thailand. He spends his time reading, writing, and travelling throughout Southeast Asia.
Other Titles
I have three series ongoing: Zero Point Light (SF); Bangkok Z - Zombie War (Horror); and Story Crisis, Story Climax (a how-to series on Writing).
Available:
Storyworks Monthly #1
Storyworks Monthly #2
Storyworks Monthly #3
Storm Ring (Zero Point Light, Book 1)
New Siqdor (Zero Point Light, Book 2)
Infection Day, Parts 1, 2, 3 (Z Inferno, Book 2)
Toey’s Burden, Part 1 (Z Inferno, Book 3)
Story Crisis, Story Climax 1 (Using Film Structure to Outline Your Novel)
Story Crisis, Story Climax 2 (What Story Arc in Film Can Teach Novelists)
Upcoming:
Descent (Zero Point Light, Book 3)
Toey's Burden, Part 2
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