Degeneration (11 page)

A fireman rushed towards
Lloyd with a first-
aid kit. He sat th
e kit down on the ground and pulled
out a silver fire blanket. He dr
aped the blanket over Lloyd to smother the flames, pulled the blanket off, and turned Lloyd over on
his back.

Lloyd’s burnt eyelids fluttered opened.

“Bring me a crash cart!” the fireman
screamed over his sho
ulder. He looked back down at the man
, afraid to even touch
him with such serious burns covering the man’s entire–

Lloyd convulsed and
v
omited
in the fireman’s face.

The fireman
gagged, quickly stood
,
and blindly stumbled backwards. He tripped
on th
e edge of the curb and fell against two gawking onlookers
. The bile splattered
onto
the two onlookers
and caused b
oth of them
to
throw their arms up in protest, cursing.
They shoved the fireman back into the street.

Lloyd struggled,
got back on his feet
,
and turned his gaz
e towards the crowd gathered
on the sidewalk. He
ran towards–

A soldier wearing a respirator
fired a single shot from his sniper rifle
aboard
the hovering
helicopter.

The round entered the back of Lloyd’s skull and blew out
through
his forehead, spraying the crowd
on the sidewalk
with blood, bits of shattered skull, and brain matter
in the process.

Lloy
d collapsed and lay motionless.

In an instant, the
infected
crowd took off screaming in every direction
, pushing each other aside.

             
“Sierra-Eighteen to Control,”
the helicopter pilot spoke into the radio.
“Downtown is hot. Wildfire has begun.”

The hapless police officers and
rescue
personnel stood frozen
while civilians swarmed
around them.

A
dditional
military helicopters arrived and flew
low in-between the skyscrapers while the civilians
scattered
in a blind panic.

White vans and Humvees approached from the distance. They pushed their way
through
and created a path through the congested
downtown streets.

“
This is the United States Army,”
one of the newly arrived helicopters announced above the panicked crowd
. “
Please remain calm. We are here to help you.
” The helicopter kicked-up
debris, shattered windows, and sent car alarms wailing.
“Please clear the street and seek shelter inside immediately. Rescue is on the way.”

While chaos overtook downtown,
a
n
Amtrak
train approached unaware.

9

T
he two Amtrak police officers crept closer to
wards Howell’s row.

Howell stared at them and held his duffle tightly
against his chest.

The other passengers handed their carry-ons to the officers disint
erestedly and without protest. M
ost of the
passengers
were too busy
trying to get their cellphones to work
.
Inevitably–

One of the officers approached Howell and extended a hand.

“I n
eed to see inside your bag, sir.
”

Howell
unzipped his du
ffle, reached inside, and blindly felt
for the
manual
trigger mechani
sm. Sweat beaded on his face and
he took a nervous dry swallow.
He hesitated.

The
old lady sitting next to him
turned
a
nd
offered
a toothless smile.

“Don’t be sc’ard
. They aint gonna keep it,” she
said and cackled.

The other officer walked up and approached the scene with suspicion.

Howell continued to feel inside for the trigger mechanism.

“The bag, sir,” the
first
officer said, e
xtending his hand.

Both officers watched
him cautiously and Howell noti
ced that the second officer had a hand
resting
on the butt of
his holstered pistol
.

Howell’s finger brushed against
the triggering mechanism, the switch that overrode the timer. He didn’t plan on becoming a martyr, but he didn’t have many opt
ions left. Licking his lips, he–

Up
in the locomotive, two distracted conductors stared at the
numerous military
helicopters
hovering over Raleigh’s downtown skyline, awestruck.
One of the conductors lazily drifted his gaze back d
own to the tracks ahead
as they en
tered the edge of downtown.

“
Christ!
” he screamed as he noticed the mass
of vehicles
that blocked the railroad crossing ahead. T
he street was
packed
with panicked evacuees and traffi
c was at a complete standstill. A
FEMA bus and four passenger vehicles
were parked on the tracks at
the railroad crossing.

The railroad signal started chiming as the str
ipped crossing arm swung down. T
he crossing arm
snapped
as it s
truck against the roof of the FEMA bus.

The
drivers on the tracks watched the approaching train in horror. They panicked
and either tried to b
ack-up off of the tracks while others tried to drive forward to safety, but t
he heavy traffic on the narrow
street was unyielding in both
direction
s
and prevented the vehicles from moving more than a few i
nches. People abandoned
their vehicles and left them idling on the
tracks.

The driver bailed from the FEMA bus, but left the busload of screaming passengers onboard. The passengers clawed through each other, desperately trying to make their escape.

One of the conductors hit the airbrakes, but it was
way
too late and they were going
way
too fast.

The train plowed through the FEMA bus and
punched through the other
vehicles
on
t
he track like a missile, creating
a
chain of
violent explosion
s. B
oth conductors were reduced to bloody splotches and the interior of the locomotive
quickly
engulfed in flames.
The fiery locomotive derailed and brought the other cars along with it–

Back in the passenger cars
, the initial jolt sent every occupant whiplashing against the seatback in front of them, knocking many passengers unconscious
.
The two Amtrak officers flung towards the front of the cabin. The screams were deafening.

A second
violent
jolt
simultaneously shattered the
windows
and whiplashed the occupants again.
S
uitcases
poured out
from the overhead bins
and the overhead lights darkened. Suddenly, everything started spinning, tossing luggage and unconscious passengers around like ragdolls; the passenger car was rolling
.

The six train cars, still linked together, rolled to a stop on
Wilmington St
reet
, smoldering
, lying upside-down
.
Twisted corpses, luggage, and scattered burning wreckage littered the pavement.

Just a few blocks away from the derailment, a military checkpoint
marked the edge of the downtown quarantine. It had
been set up
on
Glenwood Avenue in an area heavily populated by restaurants and nightclubs. Normally, the avenue served as a main thoroughfare in and
out of downtown Raleigh. Now the checkpoint
was the only remaining thoroughfare since the military
barricaded all of the other roads.
The Glenwood
Avenue
checkpoint was codenamed Glenwood-Five Points.

Glenwood-Five Points was a hodge
podge of military vehicles
and poli
ce cars. Tall generator-powered halogen flood lamps gave the area a harsh clinical light
and blinded the frustrated
gridlocked
drivers
who had been waiting for hours
to
get out of
downtown. Rows of barbwire and .50 caliber-
mounted
Humvees
cordoned off traffic while two
rows of guardsmen wearing hazmat suits and
brandishing riot shields formed a line in front of the barbwire and
Humvees
, facing the crowd.

The street was gridlocked with
busses and cars stacked
high
with luggage. Angry drivers
blew their horns and edged
as close as they could to the car ahead of them.
Traffic was
allowed to pass one vehicle at a time through a small
passageway
in-between a row of barbwire and
Humvees. Four
CDC
white-suits checked
every vehicle occupant for any sign
of infection before
allowing
the vehicle pass through the checkpoint.

Suddenly, a guardsman
ran out from one of the
white
tents on the side of Glenwood-Five Points and whispered something to one of the CDC whit
e-suits. The startled CDC worker
quickly signaled the other CDC white-suits and they
ran
away from the narrow passage
in unison
. In their place, another
Humvee
mounted with a gun turret
pulled
up and blocked off the passage
way while more guardsmen
ran
multiple
rows o
f barbwire across the path. T
he only
remaining
thoroughfare
out of downtown Raleigh
had been sealed
. 

Peopl
e panicked,
aban
doned their vehicles, and started running towards the
checkpoint.
The guardsmen kept the besieging crowd back with
riot shields
and batons
.

A CDC white-suit holding a loudspeaker
climbed atop one of the
Humvees
behind the
guardsmen and surveyed the frustrated, screaming crowd. H
e cleared his t
hroat and placed the microphone
against the
speaker
on
his facemask.

“
May I have your attention, please!”
he yelled, feedback whining. Hundreds of sweaty angry faces looked up at him. “
CDC has confir
med the presence of a deadly
conta
gion within the quarantine zone. As
–
”

Loud murmurs rippled through the crowd. “Bullshit!” a man screamed near the front.

“
And
–
A
s a result, downtown must be
temporarily sealed to prevent the possible spread of infection! FEMA has established grouping centers at a number of downtown
high-rise
structures. Please turn back and seek safe shelter inside any one of the
official FEMA grouping centers
! Once inside, listen and wait for official instruc
tion
s!
When it is safe to do so, evacuation procedures will resume from
within
the established FEMA grouping centers! Turn back, now, and seek out the neares
t FEMA grouping center! You can
not
pass here!
”