Dark Days (Book 1): Contagion, page 1
part #1 of Dark Days Series
Dark Days
Book One
Contagion
By
Marcy G. Dyer
Table of Contents
Title Page
Dark Days
Other Books By Marcy G. Dyer
Dedication and Acknowledgment
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
About Marcy G. Dyer
Dark Days
Book One: Contagion
Book Two: Inquisition
Book Three: Perseverance
Other Books By Marcy G. Dyer
Desert Winds
Book One: Down & Out
Book Two: Out for Blood
Book Three: Blood & Lies
Book Four: Lies & Alibis
Desert Breeze Publishing, Inc.
27305 W. Live Oak Rd #424
Castaic, CA 91384
http://www.DesertBreezePublishing.com
Copyright © 2017 by Marcy G. Dyer
ISBN 13: 978-1-68294-105-8
Published in the United States of America
Publication Date: July 2017
Editor-In-Chief: Gail R. Delaney
Editor: Brandy T. Vickery
Marketing Director: Jenifer Ranieri
Cover Artist: Gwen Phifer
Cover Art Copyright by Desert Breeze Publishing, Inc. © 2017
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording or by any information retrieval and storage system without permission of the publisher.
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Pirating of ebooks is illegal. Criminal Copyright Infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, may be investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
Names, characters and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author's imagination, or are used in a fictitious situation. Any resemblances to actual events, locations, organizations, incidents or persons – living or dead – are coincidental and beyond the intent of the author.
Dedication and Acknowledgment
This book is dedicated to my pastor, Matt Wilson. Thank you, Pastor Matt for all of your help in answering my character's spiritual questions in this series. Without your help, I would still be floundering. I only hope through the series, I will do justice to your teaching.
Thank you to my beta readers! Your input is more valuable to me than you'll ever know.
Chapter One
Fear not for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous hand. Isaiah 41:10 ESV
Randi Martinez stepped onto her balcony for air despite the cold December wind. The news report detailing the deaths from the human rabies outbreak echoed through the open doors and sent her heart rate into overdrive. She slid the balcony door closed, shutting out the newscaster. How had this happened? She needed to take her family to safety.
Now.
But if she tried to get them to go, they would say she was overreacting. Again.
Movement in the parking lot grabbed her attention. A man half-shuffled, half-ran toward a woman who'd climbed out of her car. "Watch out!" The hair on her arms lifted, and a chill invaded her soul. The woman stopped and looked up, but he bore down on her. "Behind you." Randi's legs went weak. She sank to the concrete balcony floor and clung to the railing.
The woman spun around as he grabbed her. Randi tried to avert her eyes but couldn't. He dragged the woman to the macadam and bit into her neck. Her screams pierced the quiet day as he continued to assault her. Randi gagged, and the man, or zombie, or whatever he'd turned into, jerked his head up to stare in her direction. Blood and gore dripped from his mouth. This couldn't be happening. She'd rather be back in the Middle East in the midst of a heatwave and sandstorm than in San Antonio right now.
The flesh eater ran toward Randi's apartment, but he stood below her balcony drooling, making biting motions, and staring up at her with blank eyes. If the disease hadn't destroyed his neurons, he might've figured out how to come up the stairs after her. Visions of herself as one of those creatures flashed through her mind. She vomited several times.
What had happened to the world? Pain squeezed her heart, but tears didn't come. She hadn't cried since that night in the trenches. A night that filled her soul with emptiness.
She took several deep breaths, pulled herself up, and focused on building her emotional wall. One brick at a time, she put it into place so she could move forward.
Randi brushed her teeth to rid her mouth of the foul taste and packed her camping gear and guns. Ransacking her cabinets produced a few cans of soup, ramen noodles, mac and cheese, and precious little else. She carried her supplies to the truck, trying to stay as quiet as possible. The infected person ran for her as she stowed her gear in the back. She hopped in her work truck, cranked the engine, and called Miguel. "Hey bro, you at Dad and Mom's?"
"No, why?"
"Have you seen what's going on around you?" The assault she witnessed while on her balcony came flooding back. "I watched a man eat a woman in my parking lot. We need to go somewhere safe."
"Where?"
"I know a place. Call Adriana and Leon. Y'all meet me at Dad and Mom's house within half an hour. Pack camping and hunting supplies."
Randi maneuvered around a stranded car in the middle of the highway. No one around except one man with glassy eyes and strings of drool hanging from his mouth who ran toward her. Sounds of groaning drowned out the roar of the diesel engine. Her gut clenched into stone. She gripped the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white and drove around him. How long did they live? "Miguel, I had to go around one of these...what do you call them? They aren't human any longer."
"Who knows? Infecteds? Rabids? Zombies? We had an intense case in the hospital."
"Hey, I need to call Mom and Dad and let them know we're on our way." She disconnected and dialed her parents. Her father answered. "You and Mom need to pack supplies. We're heading to safety."
"Mija, we're fine here. I've seen the news, but you know how the media always inflates the numbers. They thrive on creating mayhem."
Randi clenched her jaw for several seconds. "We aren't safe. Chaos is erupting around the world. We need to go somewhere else."
"What's the worst that could happen? If we contract this disease, we'll die and go home to be with Jesus."
"No, before you die, you'll turn into a flesh-eating zombie. Do you want that for Mom? Or the grandchildren? Doesn't the Bible say something about cannibalism? Like you can't go to heaven if you feast on human beings?"
"Not exactly." Her father was silent for several seconds. "Are you sure about turning?"
"Ask Miguel. He'll be there soon. He's had patients in the hospital, Dad. This disease turns them into flesh-eaters. It's horrible." She couldn't shake the images she'd seen. Muscles in her neck tensed. Life would keep deteriorating from this point.
"Fine, but where will we go?"
Randi sucked in a breath. If she told her father the truth, he might refuse to go since it didn't belong to them. "I know a place. Trust me."
"A place? What aren't you telling me, Miranda?" Uh oh. Dad was ticked. He only used her first name when she was in trouble.
Her father, with his strict sense of right and wrong, would tell her invading Reginald Barker's land was akin to stealing, but she didn't care. Dr. Barker's urgency to get the place built had scared her. "I'm almost to your house. We'll talk then." A deer darted in front of her truck as she clicked disconnect. She slammed on the brakes, the tires squealed against the pavement, and she stopped within inches of the large buck.
A few deep breaths in, and Randi depressed the accelerator. She glanced to the left. At least twenty people shuffled toward her. The guttural groaning reached her ears causing her to shudder. She jammed her foot to the floorboard, and the truck careened down the highway. There were so many already. How had the disease spread this quickly? The CDC spokesperson kept saying it was a limited cours
She pulled into the driveway and ran inside the older brick home. Miguel sat on the edge of the sofa, his hands trembling. "I almost ran over one on my way here."
"Just one? They're everywhere." Randi looked around the room. "Where are Adriana and Leon? We need to get out of here."
"On their way." Miguel stared at the floor. "I told her to hurry."
"If they aren't here soon, we'll go get them." Randi paced the floor. "Dad, are you and Mom ready?"
"We aren't going until you tell us where." He held eye contact until she looked away. "We won't do something illegal."
"Who gives a rat's butt about laws now?" Randi gripped her hands together behind her back as she paced in front of the sofa. "Don't you understand? Survival is all that matters, and I know a place where we can weather this out."
"Where?"
"You remember the man who hired us to build him a compound on the Frio?"
Dad nodded.
"I...uh sorta kept a remote for the drawbridge and the gate codes."
"Miranda Martinez, how could you?" Her father frowned and crossed his arms. "You've doomed our company with this behavior. A customer trusted you, yet you betrayed his faith. If word gets out, we'll never get another job."
"Dad, the business is gone. Life as we know it no longer exists." Miguel stood and put his hands on her father's shoulders. "We have to go with Randi. If not, we'll wind up as food, or worse, biting and clawing through everyone in our path."
"This is dishonest."
"You don't know how it is." Randi paced. They needed to leave. Now. "There's a herd of sick people not far from here. If we don't leave soon, they'll trap us in the house, and this place won't offer much protection."
Leon, Adriana, and their children ran inside. Tears flowed down Adriana's face. "We hit one of them with the pickup. Leon tried to avoid him, but he kept coming."
"Adriana, tell Dad we have to go somewhere safe. He doesn't understand." Maybe for once her sister would agree with her. Unless she moved into the land of denial like she usually did.
"Dad, we're trusting Randi. If she knows of somewhere safe, we're going. Period."
"But—"
"No." Adriana jammed her hands on her ample hips. "You cannot jeopardize this entire family because you're stubborn."
Mom rolled a large suitcase into the room. "Xever, the children are right. While poaching someone else's property isn't right, we must survive. We won't invade the man's house, only his land until this mess is over." Her mother slipped her arm through her father's. "If he and his family are there, and ask us to leave, we will."
This mess would never end, but Randi refused to destroy her mother's fantasy. Besides when the diminutive Faustina Martinez set her mind to something, Dad wasn't about to argue.
Randi, Miguel, and Leon grabbed the supplies.
"Leon, since your truck is four-wheel drive, let's take it and mine," Randi said as they took the first load outside. She shoved a suitcase in the truck. Odd. She didn't see any supplies from her parents' house. "Leon, did you or Miguel bring any food or other supplies out?"
"Nope. Just what's already in the truck from our house."
"Load everyone into the trucks. I'm going to grab some non-perishables."
"You got it."
Randi ran back inside, found a large plastic tub in the garage, and grabbed bags of rice, beans, grits, masa, flour, and cornmeal. She found several cans of vegetables, a couple of bags of pasta, and her mom's canister set in the next cabinet and dumped them in the box. Once she filled it, she walked to the front door.
She turned and looked at the living room. Memories of Raul playing with her caused her throat to constrict. He would crawl around on his hands and knees as her "horse" for hours on end. A deep ache penetrated her chest. Would she forget him if she never saw their childhood home again?
Soft cream had replaced the tan color on the walls, but her mother never changed the antique furnishings of the room. Too bad the happiness left many years ago. One last look at the cozy room with a brick fireplace in the corner and the antique coffee table where she'd done her homework, and Randi walked out without a glance back. No time for nostalgia. Emotions would only get them killed.
She handed Leon the tub. "Stay close. We'll take back roads. It's very secluded and about an hour from here." She shrugged. "At least it was before this plague invaded. It may take longer, now."
Miguel and her parents climbed into her truck, and she started toward Barker's compound. The place covered many acres and spanned the Frio River. If he was there, she would beg him to let them stay, but if he wasn't, they were taking over the land. Maybe the house if the weather turned much colder. She drove to Highway 90 and pointed the truck toward Concan.
Randi followed the long, deserted road. Her breathing accelerated and sweat beaded on her forehead as she glanced around for other signs of life. There should be more people fleeing San Antonio. Where were they?
They were dead if they got trapped here.
A man stood in the road a few yards ahead, so she eased off the gas, but not much. "Randi, slow down. You're going to run over that man." Her father patted her arm.
"He could be a rabid." She shook her head. "If there's one, there'll be more. Our only hope is to get past him as quickly as possible."
*****
Reginald Barker brushed his graying hair out of his eyes as he watched the newscast playing on the TV in the corner of his lab. Someone had dumped ZR-76 around the globe. Reports of an outbreak of the modified rabies virus poured in from most countries. Not possible. His legs refused to move toward the vault. Besides him, only his boss, Ed Goldwaith, had access to the samples. No one else.
With a lead weight in his gut, he forced himself to open the vault. All thirty vials were missing. Hot water flooded his throat, his stomach dropped to the floor, and he swallowed the rage that enveloped him. Goldwaith had unleashed a plague on earth like no other.
The television droned in the corner of his office. Dr. Allan Webber from the CDC stood behind the lectern at a press conference and reassured everyone it was a limited virus. "Our scientists are working nonstop, and we are quarantining all infected persons. We don't expect many new cases."
If he only knew the truth.
Reginald checked the security video then dialed Goldwaith's number. "What have you done?"
"Don't know what you're talking about."
"Ed, you and I are the only ones with the combination to the ZR-76 vault. The virus is missing, and now cases are popping up around the world. Why did you do this?"
"I didn't." Ed chuckled. "If the virus is out there, then perhaps you dumped it on the world. Are you a homegrown terrorist, Reginald?"
"No." Reginald took a breath, held it for a second, and then exhaled. "I have video of you accessing the vault. I'm sending it to President Davis."
"Do you think she'll bring charges?" Another laugh. "Get real. Who do you think ordered the release? Eileen’s ratings will soar when you cure the disease. She'll be in prime position for reelection and will appoint me as head of the State Department. It's a win-win situation."
"Cure? You idiot. There is no cure for ZR-76. It's one hundred percent fatal and easily transmitted."
"For now. Get to work on the vaccine right away."
"It's a weaponized version of rabies. Rabies. A fatal disease. The world will end before I, or anyone else can develop a cure." Reginald curled his fingers into fists, and his muscles quivered. "We discussed how rampant this virus would spread at the project outset. You knew it."
"Don't be melodramatic. Modify the vaccine like you did the virus."
The man was an imbecile. "It took a team of scientists years to modify the virus. Nothing will stop this. Since you released it before we could attempt to develop a vaccine, there's no hope. I told you six months ago I didn't know if we could ever achieve it. You've doomed mankind."
"What? No way! Fix this. Now!"
"What don't you understand? I can't change it. Why do you think I told you this was a devastating weapon, and we should destroy it? ZR-76 turns the host into a flesh-eater. At least until he dies, but with the modifications, he'll live a long time while spreading it."
