A guide to the zombie apocolyspe

A High schooler’s Tale of Adventure, Violence, and the Undead

Prologue
Atlanta, Georgia
4/23/2019
The sun beat down upon the the glass and steel jungle of Atlanta, Georgia with a ferocity that even the older residents had never seen before. To be fair, the sun always beat down in Atlanta, and the older residents didn’t exactly have the greatest memory, but if you said, “It’s hot as hell today.” It would have been a hard sentiment to argue. However, one building within the cityscape seemed to exclude a cold aura from its very core. It was not the “respite from the unrelenting heat” aura. More, “if you come in, you die.” type of aura. It could only have been the Center for Disease Control headquarters. Within the top office of the headquarters, Jack Freedman paced angrily. It was not in his nature to pace angrily, usually he just preferred to file reports, or take a walk along the gardens and koi ponds below. Now was not one of times , however. One of his top virologists, Dr. Jonathan Chu, was seated across from him as he paced. “Seated” was probably not the best word to describe how Chu was sitting. Pinned, was probably the better word for it.
“So, let me see if I understand this. You’re telling me, serious as a pandemic, that one of our viruses was lost in transit! How the fuck do you lose a virus in transit?” Chu tilted his head a bit, clearly uncomfortable with the screaming his normally calm boss was doing.
“First off, we technically had nothing to do with it. It was one of the viruses that we loaned out to the University of Minnesota microbiology department. The goal was to find a way to prepare an, “antivirus”, if you will, to various viruses. You do remember that shipment a few weeks back, correct?” Jack did vaguely remember signing off on the transfer of some of the samples they had back in the development labs, but the details were a bit fuzzy. He would have to look up what exactly was shipped later.
“I do, but what exactly happened, and is there any known damage that we’ll need to clean up?” Jonathan seemed to grimace, but continued.
“Well... about that. The university was shipping one of the samples to another university research facility, near the Wisconsin border. When they were getting off the highway, they were sideswiped by an oncoming truck.”
“Dear God, was the driver injured?” Jack interjected. Considering the pressure that the CDC was getting from activist groups and even the government, it was vital that this be cleaned up as fast as possible.The ways that all this could be spun into an exposé sickened his stomach.
“He should be fine, he’s recovering at one of the local hospitals. What we need to be worried about is that some of the infected test subjects that were used have... disappeared. We know they didn’t die in the crash, and we were looking at possible locations where they might be.” Jack’s heart sank. This was the absolute nightmare scenario that had haunted heads of the CDC for decades.
“What’s the virus’s MO, John?” Jack asked, knowing he wouldn't like the answer he was given.
“We believe that it was one of the rabies series of virus, but with several modifications. It reportedly allows for the infected to survive for a little longer than the typical rabies virus, but that it eliminates higher brain function and increases aggression in the infected.” John also recalled that the virus mentioned was of interest to the US Special forces, and was nearly obtained by them about a year prior. The thought of what the Special forces would have done with it was bad enough, but to think of what could happen if it were to spread...
“Ok, we need to get out ahead of this. I want a full team to find those damn subjects; what did you say they were again?”
“Dogs. If I can say one thing about the University of Minnesota, it’s that it is where creativity goes to die.”
“Right, we need to find these dogs, and make sure they haven’t potentially spread the virus to something else. Chu, why don’t you go home and get some rest. We’re probably going to have a busy, busy day tomorrow.” Relieved that he had not been crucified, Chu got up to leave.
“One more thing, Jack. One of the scientists had reported that one of the test subjects died at the university, but...”
“But what, Chu?”
“He seemed to, reanimate and walk around a few minutes later. At least, that was the word they used. I have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about, and frankly, I think they’re full of shit.”
“That’s... Odd. Really odd. Their equipment must be malfunctioning. When all of this gets cleaned up, tell them that if they ever want to get samples from us again, they will need to take better care of their equipment, and think before they send us a report like that again.”
“Yes sir, will do.” Replied John, hurrying out the door. After waiting what seemed like an eternity in the elevator, he arrived at the one of the main communication hubs spaced around the building.
“St.Paul office, you have a go to capture the subjects, I repeat, capture the subjects. If you cannot, you have permission to call in military back up.” The man on the radio voiced his assent, and signed off. John and Jack both smiled to themselves as they went their separate ways, confidant the incident was behind them.