OCTOBER 25th’s news reports were filled with information and footage of the new safe zones. This included footage of military vehicles clearing roadways, and convoys of school busses leaving the safe zone and returning, laden with civilians. People entering the camp were seen waving at the camera crew and giving thumbs up signs.
The locations of these safe zones were not advertised on television or radio. In fact, there were stern warnings about attempting to travel to or gain access to safe zones. People were being turned away, with force in some cases.
Several blogs were posted with the information people were after though. They listed actual locations of safe zones. People were quick to add warnings to these blogs. Travelling to the safe zones on your own was a bad idea. Several of these warnings were from individuals that tried to get in and ended up being shot at.
Outside of North America, the news includes accounts of fighting in the streets of Rome, airplanes bombing the slums of Rio de Janeiro, and pure chaos in Jakarta, Cairo and Mexico City.
There was not lot of new information available about HAPS, or the syndrome as the president coined. The one sure thing was that it was still spreading. The websites of the CDC, WHO and other health organizations were providing no new information.
A disturbing communique was leaked to the media. It detailed that the entire Russian armed forces were showing symptoms of infection. This prompted the US Department of State to hold a brief press conference. The talking head assured everybody that the United States forces were not at similar risk as their Russian counterparts. The only other statement made was a stern warning for people not to “trespass the legal boundaries of martial law.”
If you looked deep enough you could find even more disturbing information. There were a growing number of posts by people witnessing somebody dying, then rising from the dead and turning violent, attacking any person nearby. There were many shaky videos of people fighting off such attackers. The attackers looked ‘off’ in many of these videos. Their eyes were open too wide. They appeared to be oblivious to the damage that was being done to their bodies. Many people were calling them zombies.
One such video depicted three shapes in a poorly lit alley. The person holding the phone zoomed in, increasing the shakiness of the video but also bringing the three shapes into clarity. It was three persons, all with their backs turned to the camera. They were standing very still. Unnaturally so. Their heads were turned slightly, like that of dogs hearing an interesting noise. The person holding the cell phone took a step and kicked something inadvertently. The three zombies immediately turned to face the camera, having heard the noise. A quick glimpse of their faces was visible on the video, revealing wide open eyes and mouths. The three zombies gave chase as the person with the cell phone ran away.
These videos were being posted from many places around the world, including America itself. Most of Africa and large portions of Asia had gone entirely dark. There was no communication coming out of these parts of the world.
Oddly enough, there was very little information about the India-China conflict. Maybe hostilities had ceased in that region. Similarly, the numerous other conflicts and skirmishes around the world seemed to have died down as well.
A different and far larger catastrophe was taking place.
NEARER TO HOME, THE evacuation and transportation of healthy individuals to the safe zones had started. A Channel Eight camera crew had been granted access to the local safe zone.
The camera focused on a reporter standing beside an army representative. Their outfits clashed wildly, as the army rep was dressed in urban camo and the reporter wore a dark blue skirt with a bright yellow top. Their looks also clashed, as the reporter had long, rich black hair hanging behind her shoulders, where her counterpart had short cropped dirty blonde hair. Finally, their moods appeared to clash as well. The reporter smiled and looked up-beat, while the army rep was scowling. About the only thing the two had in common, was that both were women. At the bottom of the screen, the ticker continued cycling through a listing of locations and phone numbers.
“This is Cindy Cho reporting from inside the safe zone.” Cindy was a petite girl of Asian descent. Her golden skinned teardrop face was flanked by those dark curtains of hair. She was attractive and knew it. She flashed a brief, glamourous smile at the camera.
“With me I have first lieutenant Mary Sanderson, of Fort Scarborough.”
She turned to her interviewee. The first lieutenant was standing with her feet slightly spread and her hands clasped behind her back. She was slightly taller than Cindy, but anybody that knew Cindy knew that the oriental beauty was petite at 5”3 – when she was wearing heels, which she was.
“Ms. Sanderson” Cindy started
“Lieutenant Sanderson.” The Lieutenant corrected. Her mouth thin and her eyes flat.
“My apologies. Lieutenant Sanderson.” Cindy corrected with a small embarrassed smile.
“Can you describe what is happening here at the safe zone?”
The Lieutenant stood at ease. Her confident stance and nature were clear indications as to her rank and her role as spokesperson for the safe zone.
“Sure. It starts with the numbers you are broadcasting on your station. These numbers are also being broadcast from other local television and radio stations. People are asked to pay close attention to the instructions and dial in to the number that is associated with their sector.”
“Sector?”
The Lieutenant pursed her lips. “Ok – think of it as a portion of city, or neighborhoods.”
“So how do you keep everybody from calling the number and requesting to be evacuated?”
“We change the numbers every day, and have folks dialing only to the number that corresponds to their sec–... neighborhood. Any in-coming calls that do not have a number associated with their particular neighborhood
