Project V: Pilot
Science is his passion. He had a knack for solving scientific problems no one else could solve. To the regular person a scientific equation looked like gibberish, but to him, it looked like a Dr. Seuss book. Rhythmic patterns easily comprehended and remembered. The world stood still when he cured cancer. He had actually found a legitimate cure, an enzyme that broke down the cancerous cells causing them to become cancerous to themselves and reverse their growth process. But what took the cake is when we solved the A.I.D.S. virus and it was pretty simple too. We just found a DNA strand of the virus in its host and tweaked a small chromosome then re-injected the patient with their own personal strand of the virus to counteract it. I got lucky enough to intern with him years ago. That’s how I got this position. I actually worked myself up to the executive level and was now on path to be his successor when the time comes. Well, me and a few other people buuuut, I think my chances are a little better. (I’m smarter than they are. And he invites me to all of his family events.) Right now I am the Pharmaceutical Specialist Manager. I have a whole division under my control. It’s kind of awesome too. I get to make all of the decisions and everyone answers to me. And Mr. Vanderbilt asked me to come in early today. I wonder why, though. Maybe he has some sort of special assignment for me so he can make a final decision about my future with this company. Anywho, I am glad to have been in his shadow. It’s amazing, really. To get to know someone that literally changed the world. Every time I walk into his office I catch a little of that aura. One man, he gave countless amounts of people their lives back. Unfortunately, He’s about to die from the looks of things.
As I approached his office I noticed that he was tied to a chair and badly beaten. I panicked. I didn’t know what to do, so I hid. A few more of the employees that worked in administration had also been hiding. The workers in the actual factory had no clue what was going on. We all exchanged equally terrified looks, but we had to do something. So I started to ask what was going on. Someone told me, “they came in after he did this morning and killed the guards and took him in there and started questioning him.” Well of course I asked, “Did anyone call the cops?” But just as I did a guy came up from behind me and said, “Hand over your phone.” The gun he had in his hand left no room for questions so I did. Fucking prick. I wanted to do something but I’m not the physical type. He probably would have pummeled me. Dammit, people always look at us science guys like we’re weak. Wait, he’s saying something. “I saiiiid. What the FUCK are you looking at little girl. You look like you want to do something.” In my mind, I got up and slapped the hair off of his scruffy little chin. In real life, well… you know. Can’t win ‘em all. Hell, you obviously can’t even imagine winning ‘em all. He grabbed me by my collar and picked me up against the wall. “Please don’t hit me, please don’t hit me,” I said. Fuck I should’ve stood up to that guy. Maybe if I had stood up to him then everyone else would have helped. That was a risk I wasn’t prepared to take though.
As if things couldn’t get any worse. The guys came out with Mr. Vanderbilt and escorted us all to the open lab floor. They kept asking for some kind of stone and formula, but Vandy (that’s what we called Mr. Vanderbilt) wouldn’t tell them anything. I even started to wonder what they were talking about because I handled all documentation of everything that came and left the company. Hmmmm? So these bastards start to tear the place apart. Throwing all kinds of chemicals every which a way. This started a pandemic. Maybe they didn’t know, but we knew full well what would happen if some of those chemicals mixed. And mix they did. Fires and explosions started to break out all over the place. It was like a scene from a movie. Everyone running and screaming trying to get away. People falling trying to scramble away from fireballs flying across the lab floor. Alarms began to sound and lights started flashing. The sprinkler system activated, but to no avail. The chemicals overpowered the water.
The men who had caused all of this had knocked Vandy out cold and everyone else who had been with me had run away. I couldn’t just leave Vandy though. It was like an obstacle course to get to him, lab counters and work desks, but someone had to do it. I looked around once more hoping and praying that it was someone else with more courage than I… There was no one. I had to go, and I had to go now. The buildings structure was beginning to collapse and if I didn’t act fast then both mine and Vandy’s fate was already sealed. So I ran for It. For the exit, that is. But unfortunately I was born with a conscious. I couldn’t leave him. Dammit. So I ran back as fast as I could before I lost the nerve to rescue him. I got to him and he had already came to. “Mr. Vanderbilt, come on. This place is about to blow!” I said frantically as I tried to help him up. He got up slowly with my assistance and said, “There’s an exit this way.” He directed me to an area I had never really paid attention to. There was a wall with a keypad on it. When we got to the wall I was soooo confused that I let him go. He fell towards the wall and reached out for me. I thought about it and reached for him again, knowing that he was weak. He looked at the keypad and typed in a number, “Eleven three sixteen. Remember this number. You’re going to need it again.” I barely paid attention because of the fire creeping slowly towards us. He was standing on his own now. The wall began to open up. “What the fuck is this?” Nick asked frightened.
Vandy started talking about conspiracies and government cover ups and all kinds of things real quickly. And as more doors opened from within the wall I could see something like an elevator inside. It opened quickly as Vandy grabbed me by the arm. “It’s you. You are the one they were looking for. You are the formula. And in the end it will be up to you to change things…” Then he jerked me into the elevator. As he did the doors immediately closed. I looked through the glass at him gasping for air. Then I started to do the same. I couldn’t breathe. There was some sort… of…
Cough…
Haaachooo…
Cough, cough, cough…
I had never woken up on the wrong side of the bed before. But if I had to guess, this is how it feels. I woke up strapped to some type of hospital bed. I immediately panicked because there was no one around. Straight in front of me I could see through a window into another room. It seemed like an office in there and I seemed to have been the patient of a recent surgery. I struggled around in place a bit hoping to get free of the straps that held me down. But I couldn’t get free. This is bullcrap. How could I get free? I looked around to see if there was anything in the room that could help me get free. There! There was the doctors tools. Now all I had to do was get to them. Dammit. I rocked my body as much as possible and the bed began to move closer to the tray. I finally got right up on it and my two middle fingers on my left hand were just long enough to reach the table. I tapped and tapped until I got a good grip then I pulled it over to me. Once it was close enough to grab with my whole hand I tipped it over on the bed I was laying on. Everything fell, luckily onto the bed. So I grabbed the scalpel and began to cut away at the straps that were holding me down. Once I worked the left side and got free the others I only had to unstrap. Then I noticed I was naked. There were all kinds of needles and things sticking me. I took them all out. Now it was time for me to stand. I turned to the edge of the table and began to step on the floor.
What had happened? I looked around the room. There were some black Levi’s and a black t-shirt in the corner. I tossed them on and began to look for some shoes. The door that lead to the office room was unlatched. I opened it slowly just in case someone was in there. I was freaking out a bit because there seemed to be no one at all around. I found a pair of sneakers and my cell phone inside this room. As I looked at the cell phone I noticed the date. From the last date I remember it had been 2 weeks. What the hell? I wonder if anyone had been looking for me. My memory was still quite blurry though. I could only remember fire. Where am I? Where is everybody else? I had so many thoughts running through my fearful head, but the one thought that was stronger than them all was the thought of my children. I needed to check on them. I took the cell phone and the charger and tried to call my ex-wife. I couldn’t get service. Maybe I needed to get out of the building. I had to go home because I knew that my fiance was probably worried and I knew my kids probably miss me. I walked out into the hallway and still no life. I looked down the left and right of me but something told me to go left. So I followed the hallway and I finally came to an exit sign. I walked out of the door and the Sun hit me like a fist. It angered me that it was this bright out. I could barely see. As my eyes began to come into focus I began to notice there were abandoned cars and military vehicles everywhere. What was even more frightening is that there were dead people strewn all over the parking lot. It looked as if they had all been attacked by animals.
I frantically went to every vehicle I could searching for keys. Nothing. So I tried the military vehicles. I finally found some keys inside of a flatbed. What was even more incredible was that I found a couple of guns in the back of that Humvee. 9 guns to be exact. So I hopped in and prayed for the best. Then I gave the key a turn. It started right up and it was on a full tank of gas. Great. I shifted into gear and pulled off. The roads looked much like that parking lot I had just left. I drove quickly because I feared the worse. There was not a living soul anywhere to be found. I had to get to my kids and my fiancée. I pulled out the phone again. From the looks of things I figured the phone wouldn’t work then I noticed a signal. So I gave it a try. I found my ex-wife’s number and called. It just rang. I had to get there fast. I turned down the street her house was on and it was no better than any other place I’d seen. I barely cut the truck off before I had jumped out and ran to her door.
The door was open. It was cracked just a tad bit so I opened it slowly. As I creeped in I could hear crying coming from the hallway. I stepped around to look down the hallway and I noticed my ex-wife laying over our daughters body crying demonically. I ran towards her screaming, “What happened? What the hell happened?” Though I had alerted her of my presence a bit too soon. She stood up and charged at me screaming. Idk what I was supposed to do. She wasn’t trying to fight me. She was moreso trying to… Eat me. So I threw her off of me and screamed, “What did you do?” as I noticed that our daughter had been eaten. And my ex-wife, had blood all over her mouth. Was she a…? Nahhhh, couldn’t be. She was rushing back at me. I was trying to hold her off but she was strong. So I swung her around and she fell and rolled. I kept screaming, “Where is Tyler?” I guess Tyler heard me. He had locked himself in the basement. He was 7 years old. And he loved to play hide and seek. I heard his voice calling for me. I ran to the basement door and she followed right behind me. He was unlocking the door and as soon as I could get it open I grabbed him up into my arms and kicked her down the stairs. Then I took off running for the front door. All I could think was “What the hell is going on?” I was fucking terrified. My ex-wife had just eaten my daughter and tried to eat me and my son. My son was soooo small like he had not eaten in a while. “Are you okay?” I asked him. He shook his head up and down and grabbed my hand tightly.
This was the reason I still lived, to protect him. He was adopted but he felt more like mine than my own child might have. I loved him. Where was I to go now. Home. I called my fiancée and she seemed ecstatic that I was still alive. Our conversation lasted for a few and I found out that she was in Chicago. She had driven up to check on her parents so she was safe. I told her that I would come up there once I went past the house and a store for some things that we needed. Hopefully, there were supplies at the store. He got to his house. He got out and told Tyler to stay in the car. Tyler refused because he was too scared to stay by himself. So I put him on my back. I needed to get him some food right away. As we went into the house it was quiet. I kinda like the desolation and silence. I was always to myself anyway. We went into the house and I found food and drinks and clothes for me and my boy. Once I had gathered everything we started loading the back of the truck. I was almost done packing the truck with the six bags that I had packed when I noticed a group of people running towards us. Tyler said, “It’s those things!!!” So I grabbed Tyler and jumped in the truck. We rode off and I decided we’d try to stop at a store. I noticed that I was waking the dead. They were coming from everywhere chasing after the truck. Maybe the truck was too loud.
When I got to the nearby Wal-mart I noticed that no one was there but the dead were swarming around. I had to make a decision right away. How could I get what I needed without letting these things get to me? So I drove straight through the front. It was scary and exciting. I wasn’t one to break the rules. But driving through that glass felt liberating. Even Tyler smiled. We drove around the store and I stopped, hopped out and grabbed supplies and kept going to the next thing we needed. I ended up getting some things we didn’t necessarily need like a couple of flatscreen tv’s and dvd players with dvd’s. I also grabbed some portable dvd players and some ipods and ipads. I mean, it wasn’t really stealing. I think that was all we needed so we left. Tyler was in heaven because I had grabbed him some toys too. We drove out of the building and headed down the street towards the highway. Then I noticed something. Someone was standing on top of a gun store waving a big white sign. Maybe they needed help. Or better yet, maybe they could help us. I drove right up to the door and got out of the car. The lady on top of the building said she was coming down so I walked to the door and waited.
Just then a bunch of guys came out of nowhere with rifles screaming for me to get on the ground. I did as they said as the lady came out smiling. They were all congratulating each other happy that they had come across me and this truck. One of the guys was walking towards the truck and I was trying to tell them that my son is in there. I jumped up off of the ground as the guy started to open the truck. “MY SON IS IN THERE. MY SON. JUST GIVE ME MY SON!!!!” I could feel the hot lead piercing my body.
Everything..
Was going… dark…
I…
Was...
Dying…
I looked up barely able to hold my head. One of the guys walked up to me as I still struggled to crawl to the car. I could see Tyler in the window of the truck. I reached out for him as the guy standing over me pulled the trigger…