WIP Book

4D trial #1

Main: Abigail (Abby)
Oldest Bro: Ryan
Middle Bro: Matthew
Mom: Karen
Dad: David

Abby's friends: Scott (best friend);

Dad's coworkers: Greg; Trisha; Caspar

Known Zombies: John Doe; Donny; Grimer; Constable Banks; Sergeant Crawley; Probie Green;

***

Ch1

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Abby, happy birthday to you!"

"Hip, hip!"

"Hooray!"

"Hip, hip!"

"Hooray!"

"Hip, hip!"

Bang!

No third hooray, just a gun shot. Everyone was stunned into silence. Now with the singing over we could hear the screaming, and the sirens. My friends sat there, scared looks frozen on their faces. My dad was the only one moving. He had disappeared into the house to retrieve his police walkie talkie.

"What the hell is going on Greg? Do I need to get the kids inside and come down, or what?" There was a long pause on the other end of the line.

"Sir, I don't know if you coming down would help."

"Karen, get the kids inside, shut the curtains and windows and shut off all the lights." My dad turned back to the walkie talkie in his hand as I was shutting the door. "So explain to me why I am hearing screaming and gunfire."

"Well," another pause, "Apparently Trisha was just about to cut open John Doe in the morgue but he leapt off the table and tried to attack her. She ran through the doors and locked them and John Doe went through the other door when her assistant tried to come to her aid and he bit him. Donny went down straight away, John Doe ripped out his jugular. Caspar shot him in the chest but he got up and started towards Caspar but Grimer got between them and he ripped Grimer's throat apart too."

"Woah, hold on Greg. Are you telling me what I think you are?" There was no answer on the other end of the line. "Greg? Are you telling me this guy is a zombie?"

"If you want to call it that, sir, then yes. John Doe only went down when Caspar shot him through the eye socket, but he bit three more of our officers who were trying to hold him down. Four hours ago Donny and Grimer were banging on the inside of their morgue drawers."

"Hold up, how long ago did this happen and why am I only being told about this now?"

"John Doe woke up at about twenty hundred hours. We thought it was an isolated incident. The other three officers that were bitten were taken to the hospital so we thought it was under control since John Doe had been subdued."

"Last night Greg? Are you kidding me? Jesus! I'm coming down there."

"Sorry David, but we didn't want to pull you away from your daughter's birthday, sixteen is a special num-"

"Cut the crap Greg. So why did it sound like there was gunfire so close to home if this happened last night?"

"Constable Banks was one of the officers that was bitten last night, he passed away during the night, they had him wheeled into the large open morgue and he apparently got up and bit some of the patients on his way around the hospital. No one realised until a short while ago when the small horde tried to exit the hospital. A few of the staff were turned as well so there was no one to sound the alarm until a paramedic was coming into work and saw people wandering around with blood stained clothes and such." My dad slammed his fist against the table, causing cups to bounce.

"So how many are we talking?"

"Around twenty, maybe more, depending on how many patients and staff were bit. It's looking as though it's taking about twelve hours from the time they drop till the time they rise. Banks passed away at around twenty three hundred last night according to the cameras so he's had about thirteen hours to infect whoever was in the hospital. For now we have the hospital locked down and have been trying to access each level and window to see if there are any uninfected survivors. The gunshot was because a patient tried to follow a survivor out the window as we were pulling them out."

"Who were the other two?"

"Sergeant Crawley and Probie Green."

"Damn! Look Greg, I'm going to make sure everyone here is safe then I'm coming down."

"But-"

"Abby will understand. I'm coming down." I watched my dad switch off the walkie talkie so his friend couldn't argue anymore. He turned towards the door and stopped when he saw I was still standing in the doorway. "You heard all that didn't you?" I nodded. "I'm sorry about your birthday Abby." I nodded again. "Don't tell your friends until we can get this mess sorted." He lifted the birthday cake from the table, the candles had mostly gone out and it was covered in wax. "Get your mother to scrape off the layer of wax and enjoy the rest of the cake. Keep everyone inside and I will be back as soon as possible."

"I love you dad." He smiled at me and hugged me.

"I love you too baby girl. Now take this inside and get your mother. Go open your presents. Tell your brothers I'm going to need them too." I walked into the kitchen and set the cake on the counter. There was one candle still burning and I blew it out. No cheering or clapping as usually happens when this ritual is done. I poked my head into the den, looking for my brothers who were standing close to the door, purposely putting themselves between my friends and the exit. I reached over and tapped my oldest brother on the shoulder. Ryan and Matthew turned and followed me out into the kitchen.

"Dad needs you two, he's still out the back, where's mom?"

"Right behind you Abigail." Matthew said and playfully punched me in the arm, usually I would have fought back and hit him twice as hard but considering everything I had heard, I really was not feeling upto it. His smile disappeared when he saw that I wasn't fighting back. "That bad, huh? Love you sis, happy birthday." He hugged me and then made his way outside to find our father.

Ryan hugged me as well. "I'm sorry we have to work, but I'm sure everything will be fine." I could feel the tears pouring down my cheeks. "Everything will be okay baby sister. I love you, and you better save me a piece of that cake." He turned me around to face my mother, she had a worried look on her face when she saw my tears.

"Dad needs to talk to you too. Something bad is going on at the hospital." Her brow furrowed and she gave me a quick hug.

"Dry your face. Put on a game or movie and open your presents, keep your friends occupied. We don't want to worry them over something that may or may not be that bad and I'll be in shortly with some cake." I nodded and wiped the tears from my cheeks then she left to find my dad and brothers. I took a deep breath and slowly released it then entered the den. My friends were all talking quietly, they turned when they saw me.

"Abby, what's going on?" My best friend Scott asked me.

"Something is happening at the hospital that requires dad and my brothers to go and help with. It's nothing to worry about yet, but dad thinks we need to continue the party inside rather than out the back, so it looks like we get to play a game or watch a movie or something." Scott had that quizzical look on his face, the one he gets when he knows I'm lying, but he knew better than to question me right now, knowing that when the time came then we would all be told the truth.

"Fine, but I think we need to open your presents and eat some of that delicious looking cake that I know mom made." He smiled, he loved my mother's cooking, he practically lived at my house, not to see me but to eat her food. I could also tell that he was trying to set everyone else's mind at ease. We have been friends since kindergarten and knew when some news had to be kept quiet because of my dad being on the police force, many times Scott had been privy to information like this but he never said a word to anyone. I knew dad thought of him as his third son, and my twin cause we did everything together, it helped that he lived right across the street from us too.

***

Ch2

Looking in the mirror, my reflection stared back. My shock of orange hair was tied back into a loose ponytail, it reached halfway down my back and was always unruly. Due to the last three months my pale freckles had become darker and now stood out more. So many more days spent out in the sun rather than inside on the computer or phone. Even to me my usually bright green eyes looked almost haunted. I pulled the hair tie from my hair and ran a brush through it then braided my hair into a loose plait.

I stripped off my clothes and turned on the shower. I grabbed a clean singlet top from the pile of clothes behind me.