Joanna Wilson's Story

Joanna was sat in her office, her eyes glued to the screen of her laptop, her mind was currently spilling out onto the word document in front of her, each word carefully spelled and used accurately. Whatever this man had, it was certainly something new and Joanna was determined to be the one to cure it, her research was vitally important to any bid to produce a cure. As she typed away, there was polite knock other door and Joanna called them in, a smile on her face.
"I got the magnification of the virus cells for you," A young nurse handed her a folder with several pictures in. "These are the ones from when he was first diagnosed, these were a few weeks ago and this one right here… just last night." Joanna studied the images, she could identify the viruses structure, it was similar in shape to HIV or Influenza, a ball shaped cell with spikes and envelope proteins protruding from it, however, from the first image the virus had evolved, there was a lot more spikes on it and they were now all attached to cell surfaces.
"Thank you, nurse." Joanna placed the photos back into the folder and placed them in her lockable drawn, just underneath her badge and gun, before returning to her laptop.

Not long after finishing her update, she heard an alarm ring followed by several screams and even a gun shot or two. "what the fuck?" Joanna stood from her desk and started for the door, but stopped herself. She ran back to her desk and grabbed her USB stick and then the badge and gun from the drawer, she didn't have any spare bullets just the 10 loaded in the magazine. Joanna stopped before opening the door, placing her ear against it she tried to listen to what was going on outside but she couldn't hear anything above the alarm, screaming and sirens. She took a chance, swinging the door open and running for it. If this was a hostage situation, she had to make her way out, no matter what her data was too vital for her to play hero.

Joanna tried to get to the main stairway, but it was blocked by everyone trying to escape at the same time. Joanna turned to run for the secondary fire exit, before she heard a nasty snarl and someone behind her screaming. She whipped her head back to see and another patient was on top of her, chewing through her frail flesh, the nearest to her watched in horror whilst the others simply panicked more, all trying to squeeze through the exit, no doubt some people were being trampled. Joanna had to pull herself away and make for another exit, she ran as fast as she could, she witnessed plenty more acts of cannibalism on her way there, fresh red blood dripping from people's mouths with bits of pink string flesh hanging from within their teeth.

Joanna had to keep pushing on, she eventually got to the fire escape and quickly closed the door behind her. She quickly made her way down the stairs, the alarm blaring even louder in the echoing stairwell. Near the bottom of one flight, she slipped on something and near tumbled to the bottom, had she not of caught herself on the railing. Looking back, she looked horrified at a trickling pool of blood, she followed it with her eyes and it led further down the stairs, Joanna's heart beat heavier now as she raised the gun and readied herself.

Near the bottom of the stairs, she could see the nurse sitting against the wall, she was clutching a wound and still breathing. "Oh my god, are you okay?" Joanna asked as she ran down to her.
"The patient… he… he died." Joanna looked at the girl with confusion. "And… and then he bit her, right in front me…"
"What's happening?"
"I held by best friend die and then she… she got back up and bit me." Joanna took a step back from the nurse, her eyes filled with fear and worry. The nurse looked up, her eyes were blood shot and her skin even had a grey hue to it. Joanna aimed her gun at the nurse and thought about firing… but she shook her head, she couldn't waste her bullets, she abandoned the nurse to her fate and continued running until she got out of the hospital.

Leaving the women with an attending officer, he made his way to the Chief of Police, a portly man that took his job as seriously as one could take it. Bellowing orders, Chief Emmanuel Rodriguez caught sight of Samuel out of the corner of his eye. Waving a hand, Rodriguez yelled, "Samuel, get over here man!"

Jogging over quickly, Samuel replaced the gun in its holster and saluted. Rodriguez moved his hand dismissively, not one to believe in formalities when there was work to be done. Bringing him closer to be heard over the sirens, screaming, and gunshots from inside the building, he announced, "We still got lots a people in there, Sam. Who knows how many are dead and injured, its impossible to tell from the blood covering most of the civilians. You have some on you as well, you all right man?"

Samuel nodded. "Blood isn't mine. Splattered on me from some bastard trying to attack a woman. Wouldn't listen to my commands. Bullets to the chest and throat didn't put him down. Any idea what these 'things' are, chief?"

Shaking his head in assent, he responded, "Some strange virus popped up a few weeks ago in some remote area. Been spreading like wild fire. Apparently causes those infected to go crazy or something, not affected by pain or exhaustion. We tried to keep it out, but looks like that failed for us. Didn't work great for anyone I've heard about. We need you to help direct people out. There's some CIA scientist in there, not sure if she's out of the building. A woman, about five foot four, five five. Make sure she's alive." Commands finished to Samuel, he strode away barking orders to civilians and emergency personnel alike, striving to make some sort of organization out of this chaos.

Taking his gun out again, he made his way back towards the building, pushing through the throng in panic. There were hundreds of people in the hospital, all scared. Whatever was happening, it was bad. Waving his pistol over the crowd did nothing to thin their press, making his advance towards the building a crawl. Keeping an eye out for a woman such as was described to him, he eventually found the CIA agent.

Bulling through, he eventually reached her side. Keeping his pistol low, he raised his badge and flashed the Sergeant's rank at her. "Ma'am, I'm Sergeant Samuel Tarik. I'm here to make sure you stay alive for the duration of the incident. Is there anywhere you need to get to?"

As Joanna was running for the front door, still hoarded with people, all of whom were covered in blood, she stopped herself. All of those people have no doubt been attacked and bitten by one of those things, the virus spreads through contact with the blood and there was no way in hell, Joanna was going to run through them. Joanna noticed a large black man, covered in blood, stalking towards her, a gun in hand and a badge flashing, before he spoke up. "For a minute there I thought you were one of those things." She responded, with a relieved sigh. "Do you know if any of the other agents made it?" She asked him as she started to walk back towards an office, she looked back at him and sighed. "The virus spreads through contact with blood, much like HIV, and I'm not walking through a horde of people who may be infected and become one of those things at any moment, once we're outside seal the building, put it on lockdown." Joanna said it coldly, but it hurt her to say that, locking hundreds of people in a building to die was not something she was particularly proud of, but it would contain the threat for awhile.

Once in an office, Joanna quickly locked the door and barricaded it with the desk. Joanna turned to the giant and answered his earlier question, "I'm sure you're aware I'm a CIA scientist and I specialise in the field of Virology, I was sent her with 3 others to investigate the virus, 2 were sent to your men, they were to alert the CIA incase of an outbreak because Richard and myself would no doubt be dead or infected, yet here I am. Either way, this information needs to get to the CIA and the CDC so research for a cure can begin. So get me somewhere with working internet, or even a carrier pigeon." She told him, revealing the USB stick.

She approached the window and looked outside, there was a good number of people outside, all covered in blood except for some of the police men responding to the incident. She pushed the window as far open as she could, she would get out with little effort but the big man, there might be a bit of effort. Remembering her previous statement, she turned round to the policeman behind her. "Do you have any open wounds, like scratches, cuts, torn skin? Or did any of that blood get in your mouth?"

Samuel nodded as Joanna quickly explained the nature of the virus, how it was transmitted. If the infection was spread by something as simple as blood, then a majority of the people that had been in the hospital were now infected. Whether or not that would induce them to become crazed was something else to be seen. An event Samuel wished to avoid. Shouts and gunfire blared from his radio, screams of anguish and terror as units inside the building attempted to deal with the ever-growing horde of infected. Running over to Chief Rodriguez, he quickly explained what Joanna had said.

"Emmanuel, we need to establish a cordon around the hospital as quickly as is possible. Whoever is left inside, tell them to get out. We need to keep the infection from spreading and that will be more easily accomplished from the outside of the building. Find someone to move the civies to a quarantine area, some are most likely infected and liable to turn any minute," he shouted over the pandemonium. It was not proper for him to give orders to the Chief of Police but now was not a time for formality. Formality would simply get them killed.

Rodriguez nodded, agreeing with Samuel's analysis. "I'll get that sorted out. Make sure the CIA chick stays alive, she apparently knows something important about the virus. Take care man." Saluting Samuel, he turned back towards the building and began to organize the scattered officers into a ring, covering all points of exit in case infected began spilling out of the building.

Jogging back to Joanna, he followed her as they went into an office. Helping push a desk into position, he listened grimly to the reports coming from the officers inside the building. The SWAT team had advanced quickly, ending up surrounded. Nothing had been heard from them for the past three minutes and many were beginning to assume all were KIA. Few officers were still inside the building, most on the first floor directing the traffic and attempting to subdue any infected. It was failing. There just weren't enough of them.

As Joanna explained her needs, he nodded and looked out the window as she pushed it open. He could spot his police cruiser nearby, remarkably undamaged considering the situation. "The police station has a generator so even if power goes out for the rest of the town, we'll still have internet access there. Might be trouble on the way, but there are still a few holding the fort. If the infection breaks out of the hospital, we'll need more people to stop the flood that's going to arrive. Hell, public buildings are going to be crowded, a death trap. We might need to lock others out, as much as it goes against what I believe."

Eying the small opening suspiciously, he jerked around as a thump sounded against the door followed by frantic scrabbling. A scream sounded and the sound of running feet receded followed by the sound of...something. Shaking his head, he turned back towards her as she asked her question. "No, no injuries on me. All the blood is from everyone else. I don't believe any entered my mouth or eyes. Now let's get out of here." Lowering his shoulder, he ran at the open window. Jumping, his body scraped by the frame, tearing parts of his uniform but leaving him uninjured. Drawing his gun, he took up a guard position as Joanna followed.

Striding quickly to the car, he unlocked the vehicle and hopped in, opening the passenger door for Joanna. Grief filled him as he saw people panicking, figures lying on the ground while others attacked each other. Officers were firing wildly, trying to kill the infected. It wouldn't last. Uncertain, he quickly put the cruiser into reverse and spun away, heading towards the police station.

Sitting silent for a few moments, Samuel muttered, "Is there any way we can stop this?"