“Today, United Nations Peacekeepers were inserted into a city north of Seoul, South Korea, after Korean Representatives addressed the United Nations about a new strain of Measles spreading through the country. In the last week, over fifty deaths have occurred due to the infections rapid progression through the country. A United States research team pinpointed the source of the infection as coming from the city of Uijongbu, where a United States Military Base was said to have had insufficient inoculated members. The first case was a small boy, who was, yesterday, flown to Los Angeles’ Good Samaritan Hospital for autopsy. The results have yet to be disclosed to the public. The President released a statement this morning asking that all citizens ensure they are properly vaccinated against the many paramyxovirus strains. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has released a statement as well, ushering any non-vaccinated citizens to get their inoculations made current. And now to Arnold Vhen at the news desk. Arnold?”
The steps of the people walking all around him sounded like they were confined to a barrel, echoing and traveling inside the fast food restaurant. He looked around at all the people, reading their newspapers, talking, rambling on and on about so-and-so and what’s-his-name. Not any other person was bothering themselves with watching the news. He frowned, acknowledging this truth, and finishing the last sip of the coffee in his cup, he rose from his chair.
He wadded up the napkin in his hand, and stuffed it down into the lid-less coffee cup in his hand, and tossed the cup in the garbage as he exited the restaurant.
This man was no-one important. He was born the son of a blue-collar worker, raised working under everyone his whole existence, and had yet to achieve any real standing in his world. He was a blond-haired, blue-eyed, hard-working American man with all the family he needed: His wife.
He wasn’t special. He was a one-time Marine, who had spent his time in service and come home. He never talked about his time in the military, at least not to anyone except his wife, who kept all his secrets safe and sound. As of now, he worked as Security for the local University Campus. He got off his shift ten minutes ago, and was about to go home.
He rubbed his shoulder as he slid into the car. He grit his teeth, looking down at his shoulder. He pulled the sleeve back, exposing scarred flesh. Bullet entry. He exhaled deeply and reached up to turn the engine on. The sound of the Honda Accord roaring to life wasn’t much. Nothing but average.
The drive home wasn’t exceptional. Just out of town, they had bought a house just on the other side of the railroad tracks, where he would be close to access work. He leaned against the door, watching forward as he drove along, admiring the scenery as he passed it. A smile would come and go as he processed different things he was seeing.
As he arrived at home, a real smile did develop. A truly happy smile stretched across his face and he walked the short distance between his concrete driveway and his front door. He heard a scream down the road, and he perked. His head quick turned to the sound of the scream and realized it was the little girl down the road. Only playing. It was a Saturday.
The man unlocked the door and walked through the threshold, entering the foyer that led forward into the living room. Separating the living room from the kitchen was a counter-top, with a small walk-through for access to the kitchen. To his left was the hallway to the rest of the house. A further left led to the other rooms, but immediately to his right was the master bedroom. Inside, on the bed, was a lump of cover with a strewn pile of black.
He placed a knee on the bed and crawled forward toward the lump, softly moving across the pillow-top bed to his destination. He pulled the cover back.

A sweet face looked up at him from beneath the cover, even though it was covered in thick, dark, dark brown hair that was all over the place. She stretched and adjusted, looking up at him. “Hey, Lucas--” she trailed softly, looking directly up at him, “You must be home, baby.”
“That I am,” he said looking down at her. “Sleep well, my little Madison?” He adored his wife. They’d known each other for years before they’d ever gotten married, and that was four and a half years ago now. He leaned down and kissed her lips, ever so softly, before sliding to the edge of the bed and standing once again.
“Yep.” Madison stretched again before standing out of the bed and walking around the room. She was cutely garbed in an Eeyore tank and boy shorts. She walked slowly this early in the morning, but she had a beautiful glow about her. Unexplainable.
“You see the news?” Luke asked as he left the room, bound for the living the room. “Some new virus. Disease, thing. Epidemic. A strain of the measles, do you believe that?” He looked back and she had yet to appear in the room.
She had heard him though. “No. Hadn’t heard anything like that. Probably nothing to worry about.”
“I don’t know. President addressed the nation this morning, or last night, asking everyone to take a vaccine, or something to keep you from getting it.”
“Inoculated?” She asked.
Yeah, that.” He shrugged and switched the news station over, showing a live feed from the local hospital. A newscaster was standing amongst a crowd, almost shouting to be heard over the crowd of people behind her.
The newscaster spoke, “Behind me are the crowds of people demanding an inoculation against the new virus epidemic across the globe. These-- these people have said that regardless of the price, they will pay to be securely safe against death or any sickness that could cause much harm.”
Lucas watched the screen, glancing to Madison as she came back into the room with a can of Diet Coke that he hadn’t seen her leave to get. “Babe, are you watching this? This is madness.”
“Yep. Nut jobs. Over reacting if you ask me.” She smirked, sitting down on the couch to watch.
“Y2K all over again. Must be pretty serious though, you know? The president never addressed the nation about the flu. Maybe he did. I don’t think so, though, did he? I mean really. I hope they have enough of that stuff.” Luke backed up against the couch and sat down next to his wife, leaning forward on his elbows, remote in his hand.
The newscaster continued: “Again, what you’re seeing is a massive group of people here to get inoculated against the new strain of virus threatening our health and safety. The Center for Disease control has just delivered ten-thousand phials of the vaccine against infection to the hospital. The hospital director said that he will--” As she cut short a man ran into the main door of the hospital, breaking the top section of the glass out, spraying tempered glass into the air and over the crowd. He wasn’t normal looking, though. He was pale as a sheet of paper and the corners of his eyes were bleeding. When the door opened fully came a rush of others like him, blending into the crowd of people already there.
Screams resounded. People began screaming uncontrollably, scattering the crowd. The newscaster was suddenly shoved to the ground and hit her head. The film crew began running backward, the last glimpse to be seen was another human biting into the supple flesh of the newscasters neck and a fine spray of blood gushing into the air.
“Holy Mother of God, did you see that?” Lucas looked to his wife sitting beside him, wide eyed, and wide awake.
Madison didn’t say a word, she watched, mouth open in awe at what she had just seen.
Luke swallowed and looked back to the screen, used his DVR, and rewound it back to the newscaster being bitten, and the blood spraying out. He paused it. He looked into the eyes of the man biting her just after his first tear of flesh. They were white. Milky and bloodshot with the same streak of blood running down his face from the corners of his eyes. He had what appeared to be a missing chunk of flesh from just below his left eye.
Luke could do nothing but stare.
Madison started to say something when a loud thud echoed through the hallway and into the living room from the front door. She quickly jerked her head around toward the sound and stood up. “You don’t think--?” She trailed off, knowing that he’d get what she asked, but gestured toward the paused scene on the television for the sake of showing.
“God, I hope not.” He rose from his seat and stepped toward their bedroom, opened the top drawer of his dresser and removed a Walther P22 he’d bought as a home defense weapon. He clicked the safety off and loaded a .22 caliber round into the chamber and moved to the door, keeping the pistol behind his back.
Lucas pulled the curtain back away from the glass beside the door and peered outside. Standing just beyond the doorstep was their neighbors daughter, standing, facing away from the house. “It’s okay, it’s just Lily from down the road.”
Madison nodded, relieved. “Kind of unexpected. Just paranoid, I guess.”
Luke nodded. He smiled and opened the door, “Hey sweetie, how are you?”
He no sooner got the words out of his mouth before the young girl lurched for his face, clawing and scratching like a feral animal. As he fell back to stop her, he hit the floor and the Walther P22 skidded away from him as he landed. “Maddie!” He cursed and bit his lip pushing her away. “What the--” Before he could finish his sentence a .22 round entered the cranium of the girl and bounced around the inside like it was an iron pot. She uttered one last moan and fell over dead. Permanently.
Madison was breathing heavy, she clenched her jaws and held the gun limp. She dropped it to the floor and fell into the arms of her husband as he rose to his feet, crying.
Luke held onto her only briefly, kissed her on the forehead, and moved the girls body outside. He slammed and locked the door behind him. “Call 911. Police. Ambulance. Firefighters. Something.” He picked the P22 up, flicked the safety on, and tucked the pistol in the back of his pants.

Across the world the virus grew stronger. It was transferred by bites and started off with skin symptoms much like the measles. It affected the flesh initially, and killed cells one by one, opening certain places like sores and pushing pus out onto the skin, draining out.
The virus would then overwhelm the immune system, and infect the nervous system, which would in turn infect the brain. The brain around the hypothalamus quickly deteriorates without the intake of oxygen and the reptilian brain would take over, creating a desire for nourishment, and anger, that pushed the individual to attack for nourishment that wouldn’t nourish.
As the world turned from living to dead, and then the risen dead attacked the living, people fell by the thousands. It was apocalypse. It was horrible. It was the end.

(A Work in Progress)

Story by: Biohazardouswithin
a.k.a Taylor Neal