“Mark.” Tammy turned. “My name is Mark.” And with a shy smile he turned to get on the bus.
“Good luck, Mark.” Tammy said to his back. The soldier did not hear her, as he had already entered the bus and the door was closing.
Tammy quickly backed up from the gate area, as several soldiers prepared to open the gate. She watched as a several more soldiers arrived to support the departure of the bus. About half a dozen shots rang out in quick succession.
Tammy watched as the gate was pulled open, and the bus pulled out. She was sure she saw Mark watching her from the window just behind the driver. She opened her hand in a subtle wave, as the bus moved out. Two soldiers closed the gate as soon as it had cleared the threshold. The two halves of the gate locked in place with a loud clank and locked the dead world out.
The bus moved out of sight. She could see a couple of shambling forms follow the direction that the bus took. With a shudder, she turned her back to the gate and walked back towards her hut. She was going to use the small hand camera and shoot segments. Josh had shown her how to operate it yesterday, after which Pete had taught her how to upload and broadcast the files. It was the one thing that Tammy could still do, that might somehow be helpful to people out there.
At least, that’s what she kept telling herself. Deep down, she wondered if there was anybody left out there to watch her segments.
For some reason, her feet kept moving as she neared and then passed by her hut. Tammy decided that she needed some coffee, and something to eat. Tammy moved swiftly down the avenue. The sun had started heating up the air, and her shivering of a few minutes ago was replaced by the start of perspiration.
The camp was set up in a classical military style, with a central avenue leading directly from the front gate to a central building. Various other lanes led out from this central building to other key buildings. That central building was Tammy’s destination. The mess hall was located in that building.
Breakfast. And hot coffee. Mostly the coffee.
It was a bit of a hike, but she was determined. As she got closer to the central building, Tammy started seeing other people. She nodded at a couple as she passed them. The middle-aged man and woman lowered their gazes and quickly continued on their way.
The last couple of days had gotten worse in this regard. People were nervous. They were scared. They had a right to be. The number of healthy people inside the safe zone had gone from thousands to hundreds. Tammy did not have an accurate count but had estimated that almost three quarters of the population inside the camp were suffering or had already perished from the effects of HAPS.
No. The Syndrome.
That’s what people were calling it now. The President had introduced the name a couple of days ago and it had stuck. Syndrome sounded more serious and ominous. Tammy could not think of a more serious or ominous situation.
She arrived at the central building and walked up to the double doors. She turned and looked out for a few seconds. She had passed no more than a few dozen people on the way. A few days ago, that avenue would have been packed with people.
She watched as three boys walked past and away into another direction. She frowned slightly at their departing backs. The way those kids shot furtive looks around raised her suspicions.
Why do I get the feeling that they’re up to no good?
Because you’re a reporter, Tammy. You smell a story. She answered herself.
Tammy stared after them for a few seconds.
You used to be a reporter, Tammy. She corrected herself. Besides, what kind of trouble can three teenage boys get into, that compares to the shitshow that is our lives? With a shake of her head she berated herself for being paranoid and let the notion go.
She reflected on the camp around her one more time. The whole situation around camp started to reek of hopelessness.
Shitshow is right. Maybe I should try to get out of here.
But where would I go?
She sighed and turned around, opening the door into the mess hall. The smells of breakfast cooking and coffee brewing quickly dominated her thoughts.
THINGS AT SAFE ZONE Kilo two-six were degrading rapidly. At peak, the safe zone housed over twenty thousand civilians and nearly a thousand military personnel. That number decreased rapidly as the syndrome was detected in a growing number of camp residents. Camp administration quickly coordinated security sweeps of the camp, to identify and process the infected.
The safe zone had been designed in quadrants. Quadrant four, as it was termed, contained the only building capable of housing the infected. It became known as the quarantine building. Civilians did not know what happened in the quarantine building but could guess. There was after all only one outcome for those infected with the syndrome...
All civilians had been moved out of quadrant four, and far away from that facility, a couple of days ago. It left the quarantine building in the middle of a mini ghost town. The mini ghost town was supposed to stay empty. But dozens of infected people, fearing discovery, chose to hide out in the abandoned huts and tents.
The rapidly shrinking number of security personnel at the safe zone meant that less sweeps could be conducted. For the last couple of days, teams of soldiers would patrol the safe zone and quickly take down any undead within the camp. This team had shrunk from dozens of soldiers two days ago, to just four men by this morning. Syndrome victims were able to stay
