CARRY THE LIGHT
# The Fall
It’s been just a couple of weeks between the first official signs of the odd infection that was loud on the news and the complete societal collapse. Savage attacks of the infected people, fires and purges, planes falling from the sky — it was mayhem. The virus spread drastically fast and just in months most of the human population was wiped out. Some small communities managed to avoid the worst and cut themselves away from the rest of the falling world. But with time most of them were raided by desperate or dangerous people or overrun by the infected.
# Roanoke Island
Roanoke Island in North Carolina was one of the places that survived. Not just because it was naturally protected by water, but also because of the two small military bases (US Army Corp of Engineers and Oregon Inlet Coast Guard Station) that provided the supplies, equipment and quick response needed to protect the area from the infected and people with bad intentions. During early stages of the Fall, Roanoke became one of the strongholds for military personnel and their families who were directed to the island as their refuge.
# Military
The world went crazy and most societal and political structures collapsed very early but some people and institutions braved through the chaos, clinging to their humanity and designated roles. Some of the military units survived, most of them went rogue, but a few in the area united and found their way to Roanoke's safe shores. In the first year after the outbreak the place was overtaken by the military. They reinforced the security and began to expand, treating Roanoke Island like their home base. Slowly the civilian government regained power and now the Island is ruled by civilian regulations with military oversight. Or so they say…
# Virus
People had to learn everything the hard way, noticing early on that the virus spread through bites of the infected people and caused death within a few hours to a few days after the bite. But some dead would reanimate and rise even if they died due to other causes than being bitten by an infected. That led many to believe that the only sure way to stop a human from turning into a feral monster, was to damage their brain.
# Infected
After getting bit a person starts to manifest signs of a typical "zombie infection" like paleness, fatigue, then fever, sweating, tremors, dehydration, eventually exhaustion and disorientation and death. They usually die a few hours, sometimes a few days after getting bit.For the last two years infected would walk, crawl, or lunge if they were freshly reanimated. It all depended on the circumstances and the level of decomposition. The fresher they were the faster and stronger they could have been. But they were never faster or stronger than they were when alive. Until… [spoilers for the future plot]
# Other Calamities
[spoilers]
The Beginning of the End
The sun baked down through the treetops onto the tin roof of the Appalachian home; despite the elevation, the overhead cover and the time of year, the air was thick with humidity. Ginny padded barefoot across the cool stone floor of her kitchen to the sliding glass doors thrown open to let what little breeze into the home. On the patio there was little more relief from the heat beneath the canvas roof of the pergola.Condensation rolled down the fresh glasses she carried, ice clinking as she moved. The droplets sprinkled off the bottom of the glasses, splattering the floor and leaving a trail of droplets. Others rolled down her hands and arms to soak into the loose sleeves of her cotton shirt.She paused briefly in her transit to deliver one of the two glasses to her daughter who swung in a suspended chair, her legs hung over the arm, her long brown hair dangling over the other side. Liza-May sat up with a surprised smile, accepting the glass and taking a quick sip. “Singapore Sling?” She asked with a sigh, pressing the sides of the cool glass to her cheeks and closing her eyes.Ginny settled onto the porch swing bed, stretching out and settling her own glass on the table beside her. She nodded and winked. “No booze, bug.” Ginny didn’t mind Liza-May having the occasional drink, under supervision and with her or her husband's permission but this evening was Jacks football tournament and they would need to drive the few hours down from their home to Metro-Atlanta to meet the team.The phone rang - a landline of all things, inside the house and Liza-May sprang to her feet to dash for it. The landline had become a necessity in their remote home; rare was the day that cellphones worked reliably this far out.“Hello?”Ginny listened to Liza-May’s sing-song voice as she answered, they’d been expecting to hear from her father; his tour was coming to an end in the coming few weeks and while he wouldn’t be home right away, he would at least be state-side.“Hello…?” Liza-May spoke again, sounding frustrated. “If someone is there I can’t hear you. Call me on my cell in a couple of hours, I’ll be in town!” The receiver replaced it with a click and Liza-May shuffled back into view, an annoyed look on her face. “Mama-ah!” She whined. “The phone is doing a weird clicking thing.”Ginny frowned. They’d had the occasional phone line issue in the past but she’d never heard clicking on the phone before. “Clicking? Not the dial tone or beeping for out of service?”Liza-May shook her head and opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by the phone ringing again. She huffed and turned back into the house, and answered. “Hello?” The girl gave an aggravated growl. “Mama! It’s still clicking!” She called.Ginny stood from her relaxed seat and padded back into the house to take the phone from Liza-May. Her daughter hadn’t been wrong, the phone’s line crackled static on an open line but distinct clicks were audible, as though someone were tapping a piece of metal against the receiver on their end.Ginny stood from her relaxed seat and padded back into the house to take the phone from Liza-May. Her daughter hadn’t been wrong, the phone’s line crackled static on an open line but distinct clicks were audible, as though someone were tapping a piece of metal against the receiver on their end.She listened for a time, as Liza-May watched her impatiently. She knew instinctively what the noise meant and after a single repetition of the clicks she dropped the phone and bolted through the house.Ginny was well versed in communications; that had been part of her specialty while serving but every trained soldier knew morse code, if she was correct who ever was on the line had spelled out three letters: S. A. T.She ignored the calls from Liza-May as the teen girl chased her through the house, rushing past Jacks as he exited his bedroom ready with his gear for his game. In the primary bedroom, she dropped to the floor and pushed the massive king bed with all her strength. It was enough and the trap door beneath their bed, was free for her to flip open.It had started as a joke during the planning phase of their custom-built house. Extra crawl spaces around the house for storage, the designer had touted but Ginny and her husband had an ongoing joke about keeping a ‘preparedness’ bag in some, and bug-out bags in others. During the construction they’d toured the house, either together or on a video call, making plans, and thinking of what they would fill each of the rooms with.When they’d come to the primary bedroom she paused, looking at the oddly placed trapped door. “It’ll be under the bed.” She commented she’d never thought it would be needed - there were four others with far easier access than this one.“We could use it as a panic room?” Her husband suggested and Ginny turned the phone so she would be visible over the video rather than the house to roll her eyes dramatically.“You’re nuts if you think we’d fit in there!” She laughed, moving on with the rest of the tour.Ginny flipped open the trap door and dragged out the massive military-green duffle. The kids were in the doorway now, speaking over themselves but she didn’t answer, unzipping the bag and rifling through the contents to find the SAT phone. She turned it on and it rang immediately.”Roanoke Base. Now. I’ll be state-side soon, I’ll meet you there.”
Heat
It hit hard. A deep rumble close by that snatched his gaze. It rattled his heart like the shockwave rattled the trees behind the building. Chief felt the weight of his gun being yanked out of his drop-leg holster and his stomach clenched. He whipped around. His tan FNX in the woman’s hands now, aiming directly at—FucSearing pain slashed across his cheek, making him recoil. The gun blast left him momentarily stunned despite the ear pro tucked in his ears. The sharp stench of gunpowder bit his nostrils, his mind clouded. Shit. He snapped towards the scene. Never saw the bullet going through Rizzo’s skull—his target’s body now crumpled in the grass like a sack of meat—but a faint red mist lingered in the air. FUCK. He needed him alive!Chief’s instincts kicked in and he dropped the act. He spun back to the woman, driving his elbow into her face while ripping the gun from her grip. No time for the countdown, he threw them both into the closest cover, yelling, “KILL KILL KILL”. His words hit the microphone hidden in his baseball cap. Before they touched the ground, one of the gangsters doubled over with a bullet tearing through his gut. The gunshot echoed across the fields, accompanied by another local’s holler.“SNIPER!” A .300 Win Mag polymer ballistic tipped round went straight through his head seconds later. It fragmented on impact, tearing the man's face and bursting his eyeballs before it ripped through the back, taking the entire back of his head off.
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