Author’s note: This is a short story excerpt set in the Zombie Apocalypse Call Center Universe. Each week I’ll write another part of the story on here. If you enjoy, check out the Zombie Apocalypse Call Center series and my free story, The Zombie Apocalypse Convenience Store
You can read part 1 , part 2, part 3, part 4 and part 5 of the story here.
The man shrieks and tries to get Dan off of him, but Dan keeps him pinned down and bites him a couple more times.
“Ambulance 2901 what is going on?” the dispatcher impatiently asks.
“I found my partner and he is for certain infected. He’s just bitten a citizen and I believe the infection is passed that way. I’m going to try and restrain my partner and find the original patient, as well as get the new one to the hospital. I could use some help out here.”
“Negative ambulance 2901. We’re getting overwhelmed with calls. Get those people back here, so we can get you out there to other spots.”
Shit, what is going on? I go to open the driver side down door, when suddenly I’m grabbed from behind.
“Unnnggrrryyy,” Jenny moans at me.
She tries to pull me back at her, so she can bite me, but I lunge for the door and open it, tumbling out of her grip to the ground.
Dan looks up from his victim and growls at me. He’s become a total animal. I don’t recognize anything about him anymore.
“Unnngrrry!” Jenny shrieks.
I scramble away from the ambulance. What am I going to do? If she or Dan bites me I’ll get infected and end up like them. I don’t want that.
Jenny surges out of the ambulance and stalks toward me. Dan gets up from his victim and joins her, the two of them hunting me like I’m in Jurassic Park.
The people in the cars around me are locking their doors and trying to drive away from the scene before they get attacked. There’s no one who’s going to be a hero today. Dan shrieks at the moving cars and turns away to run after one, but Jenny isn’t distracted. She sees her next meal right in front of her.
I push myself up so I’m standing and right then Jenny runs at me. I wait for her and when she gets close, I kick her in the belly. She grunts, but then comes at me again. A normal person would be wheezing from where I hit her, but that kick only got her to pause.
She grabs one of my arms and pulls it toward her, I let her pull me, and then loosen my arm muscles and slip my arm out of her grip, while bringing my elbow from my other arm around to smack her on her shoulder. She spits some mucus in response, which I manage to dance away from. At this point I’m assuming any fluid she ejects is going to potentially infect me with whatever she’s got.
I’ve got to restrain her somehow, but I don’t know if I can. The sedatives didn’t work that well. It’s like her adrenaline is supercharged. If I can’t find a way to restrain I’m either going to have to run for it, or take her down. It’s not what I want to do, but I’ve got to do something.
Jenny rushes at me again and tries to grab me. There’s no strategy to her attack. She’s just trying to bite me. I duck out of her way and look around. There’s nothing nearby I can use to restrain her. She’s going to keep coming at me and at some point she’s going to wear me down and then bite me, unless I do stop her now.
Jenny whips around and runs at me and this time, when she comes close, I avoid her grasping hands, and I punch her in the throat, as hard as I can. Her eyes widen with and pain and she sinks to her knees, clutching at her throat and gasping for breath. I feel a surge of shame at what I’ve done. I’m supposed to preserve life, not destroy it, but here I am standing over the gasping, dying infected person.
She weakly tries to grab me, but I easily evade and watch as she sputters and gasps. After a few moments she stops moving. I gingerly step toward her and nudge her with my foot, but there’s no response. I shudder for a moment and then grab myself. I don’t have time to breakdown. I’ve got stop Dan and check on the man he bit.
I step away from Jenny’s corpse and go to check on the man. He’s still on the ground, motionless and I see why. Dan ripped his throat with his teeth. I don’t know whether to feel horrified or relieved that the man is dead. At least he’s not infected, but he’s dead and there’s nothing I can do for him.
I look around for Dan and find him on top of car, smashing his way through the front glass to try and reach a terrified family. They can’t move their car, because it’s wedged between the other cars and we’ve now got a huge accident, because people panicked and drove through the intersection and slammed into each other, and the original accident while trying to escape Dan.
“Dan, what the fuck are you doing?” I yell.
I don’t expect my yell to stop him, but he hears me and immediately bounds off the car toward me. His face and hands are bloody and he looks deranged, his hair going all over the place.
“Huuunnggggrrry!”
“Yeah I get that, but you’ve already had your human snack for the day. It’s time to stop. If there’s any part of you that recognizes me, you’ve got to stop so I can get you help,” I plead.
For a moment, Dan pauses and just looks at me. Is there some part of him still in there?
Then his eyes narrow and whatever was there is gone. All that’s left is an infected cannibal that wants to eat me alive. Dan shrieks and rushes at me. I stand my ground, trying to keep calm, but knowing if I get bit I’ll either be dead or turn into something like him.
His hands grab at me. I manage to grab his right hand in my left hand, but his left hand grabs my hair and yanks hard. I gasp in surprise and pain and then punch him hard in the belly. The punch doesn’t phase him. I try to pull away from him and feel my hair ripped from head. I cry out in pain and Dan lunges at me again, trying to pull me toward him for that fatal embrace.
I fall backwards to the ground and pull Dan toward me, and then use my legs to launch him up and over my body. I then bring my legs back and do a quick flip so I’m back on my feet. I quickly turn around and see him getting up from the ground. I touch my head where it aches and I don’t feel as much hair.
“Bitch, you’re going down,” I mutter.
I run toward Dan, who comes at me with arms flailing. I duck under his arms and sweep kick him, which causes me to fall flat on his face. I quickly pivot and him to ground with my knee on the middle of his back. He tries to push up, but my weight keeps him down.
“I’m sorry partner for what I’m about to do,” I say.
I chop my hand on the back of his neck, once, twice, and then three times, until I hear the crack of his vertebrae. Dan suddenly stops moving, except for his head. I’ve paralyzed him and now I can take him to the hospital.
I get up off of Dan and wearily walk over to the ambulance. I pull out the stretcher and wheel it toward him.
“I hated paralyzing you, but it was that or kill you,” I pant. “We got to figure out what’s going on and Jenny and the man you bit are dead, so I guess you’re it. And I hope if there’s a cure, you’ll forgive me, but it was either me or you, partner.”
“Hunnnggrrrry,” Dan moans.
I flip him around and get him on the stretcher and restrain him just in case. He can still bite and the last thing I want is to become like him. I wheel him back to the ambulance and up the ramp and then I haul myself into the driver side door. For a moment, I debate getting Jenny and the man and putting them in the ambulance, but they’re both dead now.
“Ambulance 2901 to dispatch. I need to you send out a biohazard team to the intersection of Watley and Fourth. Over,” I say into the com.
“Ambulance 2901 get back here immediately. We need you and your partner on the ground,” The dispatcher tersely says.
“Coming in dispatch, but please make sure to call in a biohazard team. There are two dead infected people here and we need to contain this situation.”
“Understood. We’ll send a team out immediately Get back here, quick. There’s more hot spots happening. We may be experiencing a pandemic.”
“Excuse me. What did you say dispatch?” I ask incredulously.
“We may have a pandemic and we need you and your partner. Get back here ASAP!”
“Will do, over.” I say.
I put the ambulance into drive and then navigate around the other vehicles. I hope this isn’t the beginning of a pandemic, but if it is I’ll do my part to help contain it.
